One of the most hotly contested races in the region is New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Longtime Democratic Congressman Steve Israel announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election. And in the race to replace Israel, Republican State Senator Jack Martins is taking on Democrat Tom Suozzi, the former Nassau County executive.
This race has been unusual, beginning with the Republican primary in June.
Martins successfully challenged the signatures that his opponent, Philip Pidot, got in order to get on the ballot. However, a judge ruled the signatures were legitimate, and ordered a new GOP primary for October.
Martins then filed several lawsuits to get the election pushed back to December. He argued that a later primary would not allow enough time for absentee ballots to be sent out to members of the armed services.
He also said it would give an unfair advantage to Suozzi, who had already won his primary in June. Suozzi condemned the attempt.
At the time, Suozzi and Pidot accused Martins of not wanting to be on a ballot with Donald Trump.
“Well there is no question that my opponent has run a weird campaign as far as focusing on these lawsuits and picking on the other guy trying to run for the Republican primary and spending an inordinate amount of time on that kind of stuff trying to kick people off the ballot,” Suozzi said.
After a federal judge cancelled the October primary, Martins dropped his suit.
While it’s been a tough fought campaign, Martins and Suozzi agree on some issues.
The two candidates oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. They also have common ground on climate change and universal background checks for gun purchases.
They both have said that economic security is a big concern and want to cut corporate taxes.
“Frankly, it comes down to jobs, it comes down to the economy. It comes down to incentivizing small businesses to reinvest in themselves and grow. Getting regulations and government red tape out of the way,” Martins said.
Martins blames President Obama’s economic policies for job stagnation.
Suozzi highlights his efforts in Albany to install a property tax cap in the early 2000s.
“I took on Shelly Silver in the state Assembly and Joe Bruno in the state Senate – the Democrats in the Assembly and the Republicans in the state Senate – and fought for a property tax cap and defeated incumbent people until they paid attention and we won that fight.”
But on other issues, they strongly disagree, such as the role of government in people’s lives.
“We have to get government out of the way. We have to cut taxes to allow them to keep more of their hard earned money, support their families,” Martins said.
“Our country is in a lot of trouble. People are very discouraged, they are anti-government and anti-politics. They are concerned nothing gets done anymore,” said Suozzi.
Martins calls for Obamacare to be repealed and replaced, and calls Suozzi an apologist for it.
Suozzi supports Obamacare, but says it needs to be reformed.
On immigration, Suozzi wants only undocumented people who are involved in crime to be deported. For other undocumented immigrants, he supports a path to citizenship. Martins also supports a path to citizenship for people already here but calls for tighter border control.
Suozzi had criticized Martins for not distancing himself from Dean Skelos, the former Senate majority leader who was convicted on federal corruption charges earlier this year – something Martins has openly disputed.
“I have voted to take back pensions from those convicted elected officials, I think it is fair to do so if they violate the public's trust,” Martins said.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has purchased $1.2 million of advertising questioning Suozzi’s ethics and record.
October’s Siena College poll has Suozzi leading Martins by about 15 points, but the Republican candidate says the race is a lot tighter according to his own polls after the ads aired.
