Tom Suozzi’s victory lap

Rep. Tom Suozzi welcomed hundreds of supporters to a thank you party Monday night, held a little over a month after he won his special election to represent the 3rd Congressional District on Long Island and a sliver of Queens. The event at Leonard’s Palazzo in Great Neck attracted a number of other politicians too, including Rep. Grace Meng of the neighboring 6th Congressional District in Queens. “I cannot tell you, watching Tom’s victory that night and the weeks after, how much this victory has encouraged and inspired my colleagues and fellow Democrats all over the country,” Meng said while introducing Suozzi.

Fellow congressional candidate Laura Gillen, running in the 4th Congressional District against Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, got a shoutout from Suozzi at the start of his speech. “Before I say anything else, I want everybody to pay attention to one person in this room who is running for the 4th Congressional District, let’s hear it for Laura Gillen,” Suozzi told the crowd to applause. Until recently, Gillen was competing in a primary against state Sen. Kevin Thomas – but Thomas dropped out and endorsed his one-time opponent. Nassau County and state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs, who was also at the party, told City & State that he spoke with Thomas about suspending his campaign. “I just didn’t want him to engage him in a race that I thought would be questionable as to whether he could win it, and I felt unity in the party was paramount, and so did he,” Jacobs said, adding that his goal is to “try to avoid primaries where we can.”

According to Jacobs, Gov. Kathy Hochul had originally planned to make an appearance at the party as well. “The governor called me this morning and wanted to be here tonight and asked me to convey her regrets,” Jacobs said. Two national guard members died in a helicopter crash at the southern border recently, and he said Hochul needed to attend to the return of their remains. “But she wanted me to express to all of you her congratulations and her heartfelt thanks for all the work that everyone in this room, and those who could not join us tonight, did to make this victory.”

State Senate candidate Kim Keiserman, who is running for the 7th Senatorial District, also attended and received a shoutout from Suozzi. “I will make mention of one teammate that helped on this campaign because I want to see her win her race for state Senate,” Suozzi said. Unlike Gillen, Keiserman still faces a primary race against Brad Schwartz before either of them have the chance to take on Republican state Sen. Jack Martins on Long Island.