N.Y. Republicans pick Pilip to seek George Santos’ former seat in Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York Republicans have picked Ethiopia-born former Israeli paratrooper Mazi Melesa Pilip as their candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives seat vacated by George Santos’ ouster, the Queens County Republican Party said on Thursday.

Pilip, a county legislator, will face Democratic former U.S. Representative Tom Suozzi in the Feb. 13 special election, which is expected to be highly competitive and could erode Republicans’ already slim 221-213 House majority.

Pilip moved to Israel as part of Operation Solomon as a child. In 2021, she was elected to the county legislature in Nassau County, just east of New York City and part of the district she would represent if elected to Congress.

Pilip had not been among the 19 people who had previously filed to run for Santos’ seat. Other Republican contenders had included a retired NYPD detective, a personal-injury lawyer and a former bank vice president. Party leaders had interviewed 20 people over four days, a senior party official said.

The House early this month moved in a bipartisan 311-114 vote to expel Santos, after he fabricated significant portions of his biography on the campaign trail and was indicted for corruption charges.

Santos, who served 11 months of a two-year term, was the sixth lawmaker in U.S. history to be expelled. He pleaded not guilty to the 23 charges against him filed by federal prosecutors, with his trial scheduled to start Sept. 9, 2024, but a court filing this week showed he was in plea talks with U.S. prosecutors.

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