A look inside the secret meeting that paved the way for Tom Suozzi’s return

Now that his successor, George Santos, has been expelled from Congress, Tom Suozzi appeared on the eve of a major comeback campaign on Monday. Then he received a troubling request: Governor Kathy Hochul wanted to speak to him. In Albany. This evening.

Mr. Suozzi knew that Ms. Hochul, a bitter rival, had been trying for weeks to prevent him from becoming the Democratic nominee in a special election to replace Mr. Santos. So he cleared his schedule, battling through three hours of rush hour traffic to arrive at the Governor’s Mansion after nightfall.

Inside, Ms. Hochul presented Mr. Suozzi with multiple demands, according to two people briefed on the previously unreported meeting. She wanted to see his battle plan; it was necessary for the Roman Catholic former congressman to agree to stand as a full-throated defender of abortion rights; and sought assurances that he would not run ads that would damage their party’s brand.

Mr. Suozzi, 61, granted every request. He then offered something else to soften the ground: an apology for the aggressive personal tactics he deployed against Ms. Hochul during a 2022 primary campaign for governor, especially because she had cast doubt on her family’s ethics.

The meeting amounted to an unusual show of force from a governor who generally preferred to make friends rather than hold grudges. But the pledges made way for a crucial détente, paving the way for party leaders to formally announce Mr Suozzi as their candidate as early as Thursday.

“The governor will allow his nomination to move forward,” Brian Lenzmeier, Ms. Hochul’s campaign spokesman, said in a statement confirming the broad outlines of the meeting.

Mr. Suozzi thanked Ms. Hochul for “a good meeting” that he said “cleared the air.”

“At a time of strong political division, I have offered to be another moderate voice as the governor works to resolve issues and move forward,” he said.

Mr. Suozzi will now have just over two months to prepare for what could be one of the most important off-year House contests in decades: the fight to replace Mr. Santos, a Republican, after his historical expulsion. A Democratic victory could undermine Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and build momentum ahead of next year’s general election.

It won’t be an easy battle. The district, which stretches from the outskirts of Queens to the affluent northern suburbs of Nassau County, voted for President Biden by eight points in 2020 but has since moved sharply to the right amid voters’ concerns about crime and rising costs. Election analysts consider it a toss-up.

Republicans were still vetting more than a dozen candidates for their own nomination on Tuesday. Two frontrunners had emerged, officials said: Mike Sapraicone, a retired New York Police Department detective, and Mazi Pilip, an Ethiopian-born former member of the Israeli army.

The Democrats nominally entertained other candidates in their own trial, most notably Anna Kaplan, a senator who positioned herself to the left of Mr. Suozzi. She and others warned party leaders that Mr. Suozzi had real liabilities: He currently works for a lobbying firm, his 2022 primary alienated some progressives and he has a history of losing key races.

But Mr. Suozzi emerged long ago as the ideal candidate for most party leaders. He held the seat for six years before giving it up to challenge Ms Hochul, enjoys high name recognition and has a track record of antagonizing his party on issues such as public safety and high taxes – positions that could see him help win back voters who have flocked. Republicans.

He also has close relationships with two of the party leaders who have significant influence over their special election candidate: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, and Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the Democratic Parties of Nassau County and New York State.

Mrs. Hochul was always the problem.

Their mutual hostility has been well known to Democrats in New York since last year’s primary for governor. Mr. Suozzi repeatedly referred to Ms. Hochul, the state’s first female leader, as an unqualified “interim governor.” He also accused her and her husband, a former federal prosecutor turned executive director, of fostering a “culture of corruption” in Albany.

New York’s special election process gave Ms. Hochul unusual power to exact potential revenge. Unlike normal elections, special election nominees are chosen by party leaders, not primary voters. That gave Ms Hochul a double voice, both as governor and as Mr Jacobs’ de facto boss.

On Monday night she used it to her political advantage. After pushing Mr. Suozzi to defend his candidacy, including through polling and a fundraising plan, the governor discussed two issues over which they clashed as candidates.

First, she said she would need Mr. Suozzi to vocally support abortion rights, including the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds for abortions. Mr. Suozzi earned high marks for Planned Parenthood in Congress, but his past comments have led abortion rights advocates to question his commitment.

The governor also tried to make sure he wouldn’t run ads that disparaged his own party. Ms. Hochul and her allies have long believed that his campaign statement on the threat of crime and corruption during the 2022 primaries softened the ground for Republican attacks.

Mr Suozzi agreed, but Ms Hochul allowed him to drive away without her permission on Monday evening. She waited until after a night’s sleep to deliver the news.