GOP candidate chickens out of debate for congressional seat to replace Santos

 Queens Chronicle

For weeks former Rep. Tom Suozzi has criticized his opponent, Mazi Pilip, the Republican Party’s nominee in the special election to replace George Santos, for her failure to commit to several televised debates.

The only one the Nassau County legislator has agreed to is one with News12 Long Island, which Queens residents cannot access.

“By hiding and refusing to debate the important issues that Queens voters care about, Mazi Pilip is showing the same lack of transparency that George Santos did,” Kim Devlin, senior advisor to the Suozzi campaign, said in a statement. The campaign also noted that the News12 debate is set for Feb. 8 — five days after early voting is set to begin.

While Suozzi, a Democrat, has repeatedly asked on social media and in press releases, “What is she hiding?” her failure to respond to requests from Telemundo and NY1 — as both outlets have confirmed (Suozzi says she has not responded to WABC, either, but the outlet did not answer the Chronicle’s inquiry) — to participate in their debates poses another question: Why would a candidate who is new to the Queens Republican scene not want to make herself known to roughly a third of the district’s voting population?

Aidan Strongreen, Pilip’s campaign manager, replied to that question just before the new year by saying Pilip “has opened a productive and enjoyable dialogue with the media and the public” on the issues, and that she is “interacting with many residents from Queens, and is accessible to people throughout the 3rd District.”

Pressed further on why Pilip has not accepted several debate invites, communications director Brian Devine told the Chronicle via email Tuesday that while Pilip “will continue to be a visible presence” in the Queens section of the 3rd Congressional District, “Unfortunately, her schedule has quickly filled up, making some other requested debate dates unworkable.”

But St. John’s University political science professor and analyst Brian Browne said both candidates’ approaches to the debates are strategic.

“This is a familiar tactic of Tom Suozzi’s,” he said. “He did this when he ran in 2006 in the primary for governor against then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer ... He did this when him and Jumaane [Williams] were primarying [Gov.] Hochul two years ago.”