Overview

• New York Republicans have nominated Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, to fill the vacancy created by former Rep. George Santos’ expulsion from Congress.
• Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Israeli immigrant to the U.S. who served in the Israel Defense Forces’ paratroopers unit, is set to face former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, the Democratic nominee, in a Feb. 13 special election.
• If elected, Pilip would be the only Black Republican woman in the current Congress, and almost certainly the first Black Jew ever to serve on Capitol Hill.
• National Republicans plan to paint Suozzi, a centrist, as an “extreme” liberal.
• Despite having won her county legislative seat on the Republican ballot line, Pilip is still a registered Democrat.