Tom Suozzi channels DNC energy and unity on Long Island

With a successful special election under his belt earlier this year, Rep. Tom Suozzi launched his reelection campaign this week surrounded by supporters and Democratic officials. Hoping to capture some of the energy that characterized the Democratic National Convention last month in Chicago, Suozzi modeled his kickoff after a convention: His backers were split up by region with signs identifying the relevant villages and neighborhoods.

Suozzi spent much of the time shouting out other elected officials, candidates and local Democratic organizers during the course of his launch. But with races to win up and down the ballot – and Long Island is one of the major congressional battlegrounds nationwide – Suozzi has made it clear that he’s all-in for Democratic teamwork.

City & State caught up with Suozzi after the event about getting Democrats elected, protesters at the launch and Nassau County’s new mask ban. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What prompted your Democratic National Convention-style campaign launch event?

The whole regional idea is something that I think is the key to success in politics. Breaking into smaller groups so people feel they have their own thing, and they’re responsible for their own neighborhood. So that was the idea.

This is a big difference compared to your special election launch. You were on the lawn of a registered Republican, you didn’t have other Democratic officials. What do you make of the shift since that race?

A special election is going to be very low turnout. And in this race, it’s going to be a lot of people turning out because of the presidential race. There’s a lot of other people running – I introduced all the people who are also running in my region. So you’ve got to bring everybody together as a team.

What do you see as your role in helping candidates both up and down the ballot in an increasingly purple area of the state?

I don’t think the top of the ticket has to worry about New York, but down ballot, we have to all work together, try and help each other.

What do you see as your role in that? You obviously drew quite a crowd for your campaign launch.

What do I see (as) my role? I want to try to help people running with me.

It seemed like in your special election, you were distancing yourself from the Democratic label, but now you’re really embracing it.

After being in office for 30 years as a Democrat, I don’t think I could ever distance myself from the Democratic label. But in a special election, again, it’s not as much about the partisanship as it is about the best candidate who’s there. Now, in this race, it’s also about the best candidate. But there’s a national election going on in which a lot of people are just going to vote for their party candidate. It’s just a different type of race. I was the only one running, versus now, when there’s people running above the ticket and below the ticket on me. It’s all the same people who supported me.

What do you make of the new mask law that recently took effect in Nassau County? First of its kind in the state and recently had its first enforcement action.

I understand the sentiments behind trying to stop people from protesting or committing crimes and not showing their face. I was just talking to a guy today who was robbed, and they couldn’t identify the first thing with a video camera because he was wearing a mask. So I can understand the concept behind it. I just don’t think it was very well written. It should have (been) something that went through more debate and more discussion as to how to make it so something reasonable that both sides could support.

There were a couple of pro-Palestine protesters at your campaign launch. What is your response to them? What message would you give them?

I understand their concerns, but I’m unequivocally pro-Israel. I traveled to Israel in December, and I think that Hamas is a – not a loose band of desert fighters. They are a sophisticated, disciplined terror army that wants to destroy Israel and kill Jews, and they have to be defeated. I am all for a ceasefire, if we get the hostages returned. Absent getting the hostages returned, I would not advocate for a ceasefire. What’s going to happen if all the hostages are killed? What’s going to happen then? What’s going to be the way to get a ceasefire then? There have been so many different deals that have been on the table that we can’t get people to pull the trigger.

I recently wrote about the Working Families Party on Long Island. A lot of people aren’t running on the line, including yourself despite running on it in the past. What are your thoughts about the WFP and its reputation on the island?

No comment.