By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

New York State United Teachers kicked off its election season operations last week, doling out seven endorsements to Democrats running in competitive House districts across the state and launching its “Common Ground Over Chaos” campaign. Tom Suozzi — NY-03’s representative who won the seat in February’s special election after a disgraced George Santos was ousted from Congress — was among three local endorsees who signed NYSUT’s “Common Ground” candidate pledge during an event in Elmont last Friday. 

The campaign is a break in tradition for the union, which directs much of its energy towards state and local-level elections. 

“Historically, we’ve relied on our national unions to handle Congress,” NYSUT President Melinda Person said. “This time around, knowing that the path to the House majority runs through the state of New York, we thought it was really important that we get involved in a big way.” 

Suozzi’s district, the wealthiest in New York state, encompasses Northern Nassau County and some neighborhoods in Northeastern and Eastern Queens: Little Neck, Douglaston, Whitestone, Queens Village, and others. NY-03 swung for Biden by approximately 10 points in the last presidential election. Prior to leaving his seat for an unsuccessful run for governor, Suozzi had represented the district for three terms, rendering him a familiar face and name among voters this past February when he beat Republican candidate Mazi Pilip by about 8 points. But Santos won his seat over Democrat Robert Zimmerman in 2022 by nearly the same margin, and the Nassau County GOP has argued that they have another chance at victory this time around — although a recent internal poll shows Suozzi leading Republican challenger and former Assemblymember Mike LiPetri 57% to 37%.

“We’re in some of the swingiest districts in the whole country. So listen, I’m gonna work as hard as I can,” Suozzi said to the Ledger when asked how he felt about the road ahead. “There’s only two ways to run a race: scared or unopposed. I’m not unopposed, so I gotta run scared.”

Along with NY-04 candidate Susan Gillen and NY-01 candidate John Avlon, Suozzi delivered remarks to a crowd of NYSUT and UFT members on Friday. All three candidates signed NYSUT’s Common Ground Over Chaos pledge, which lists “practical solutions over partisanship,” “strengthening democratic institutions,” “transparency and accountability,” and “practical solutions over partisanship” among its key points. 

Suozzi, for his part, has not shied away from bucking the party line when it comes to issues like immigration as he works to maintain the support of a relatively conservative district. The congressman said the pledge was a good fit for his campaign. 

“This is what I’ve been running my whole life, quite frankly, but certainly in my last few campaigns,” Suozzi said. “Democrats and Republicans need to reject extremism on both sides. Find common ground in the middle and try and help in people’s lives. People are sick of all the attacking. They want us to work together.”

Person said that the values of the pledge first developed while organizing NYSUT members to canvass for Suozzi this past winter. “That’s where we first tested it. You know, I was visiting with our rank and file members, knocking on doors and talking to them about what mattered to them, and they were saying ‘I miss the days when we had Republicans and Democrats that could disagree on issues but find compromise, and that they could find the middle ground and pass bills and at the end of the day, they could shake hands and and still be colleagues and not hate each other,’” Person said. “So we tried that messaging in our Suozzi campaign with our rank and file, and we think that’s what the American people want.” 

NYSUT is set to spend at least $2 million in independent expenditures as part of their campaign. They will also work to mobilize their base — earlier than in past election cycles — to canvass for their selected candidates. Person emphasized the NYSUT members and their families comprise a significant presence in the state’s electorate, accounting for 13% of Suozzi’s votes this past election.

Nassau County, which comprises much of NY-03, has certainly not taken a backseat when it comes to divisive rhetoric — it made headlines in recent months when its legislature passed a ban (now facing challenges from State Attorney General Letitia James and the NYCLU) in late June on transgender girls and women participating in women’s sporting events at county-run facilities, and more recently a county-wide mask ban. Person said these developments are prime examples of the “chaos” she’s looking to combat this November. 

“The candidates that are lifting up those issues —  the very purpose of raising those issues is to divide us and to deceive us in terms of what the real issues are,” Person said.