GOP hopefuls for Suozzi's seat both say they are the true MAGA candidate

WASHINGTON — The two Republicans vying for Democrat Tom Suozzi’s U.S. House seat have been largely shadow boxing over who is more conservative, who is more in tune with economic challenges facing Long Islanders — and whether one of them lives at his parents’ house.

Both Michael LiPetri Jr., 35, of Farmingdale — President Donald Trump’s favored candidate — and lawyer Gregory Hach, 55, of Oyster Bay, cast themselves in interviews as eager and as the most qualified to take on Suozzi.

But one of them first has to get past the other in the June 23 primary in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens counties.

"People are excited about us, they know we’re the next generation common-sense Republican," asserts LiPetri, who narrowly lost to Suozzi two years ago for the seat.

He describes himself as a proven vote-getter and someone who has been in the Assembly and is familiar in the district — even more so now with Trump’s endorsement and description of him as a "MAGA warrior."

Hach, whose campaign is largely self-funded, responds that he is "the only real conservative America First MAGA candidate in this race — period."

"The fact that the [party] establishment is working against me — it makes me a better candidate," Hach says, claiming "a great ground game." He says his campaign is "showing the people that I’m willing to work hard and not afraid to speak truth to power, and exactly what they are going to get in a representative."

Deeper distinctions between the two have been limited mostly to finger-wagging.

LiPetri faults the genuineness of Hach’s conservatism, noting that Hach’s law firm in the past has donated to Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Hach is a co-founder of personal injury firm Hach & Rose and responds that even the Trump Organization has given to Democrats.

Hach claims voters know about LiPetri only what party leaders want them to know, limiting his appearances and scripting what he says — claims that LiPetri dismisses. Hach says his appearances are not being limited and orchestrated, and "nobody’s pulling my strings."

Competitive district

Erin Covey, a House elections expert at the nonpartisan handicapper The Cook Political Report, said the district should be somewhat competitive in the fall. "As far as NY-03 goes, yes, this is a seat Trump carried by a couple of points [in 2024] so Republicans should be able to keep it in play," Covey said.

Trump won’t be on the ballot this time, but Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman will be atop ballots as the GOP nominee for governor.

But Covey said it is not clear how much financial help will come from Republicans outside the district — with seats in North Carolina, Maine, Texas, Ohio and elsewhere seen as higher priorities in a year where the House majority is narrow and the party has to play more defense than offense.

Suozzi, meanwhile, has been positioning himself as a centrist while facing his own primary against lawyer Danielle Welch. 

This past week, Suozzi joined another House Democratic centrist, Rep. Adam Gray (D-Calif.), saying they hope others in the party will embrace a pledge effort spearheaded by a centrist group called "Promise to America."

"We are capitalist, not socialist," reads a key line in the new pledge.

Both Hach and LiPetri largely echo each other and a number of other congressional candidates when they say that "affordability" is the driving issue in the race.

LiPetri notes that among other things, Long Island’s seniors want to stay in their homes and that members of his generation want to buy homes in the communities where they grew up. Hach, too, identifies "affordability" as a key issue, along with "insane property taxes."

Mailing address

The most attention-grabbing part of the campaign has been Hach's focus on LiPetri listing his parents’ house in Farmingdale as his address.

A mocking YouTube ad likened LiPetri to the Will Ferrell character Chazz Reinhold from the 2005 movie "Wedding Crashers," who lives in his mom’s basement.

"At 35 years old, I was raising a family, building a law firm and had served my country in uniform," said Hach, an Air Force veteran. "Mike LiPetri lives with his parents and badly wants to be a career politician."

But LiPetri said he does not actually live with his parents, but rents elsewhere in Farmingdale, within the district. He acknowledged using his parents’ address as his permanent address in terms of voting and receiving mail — and said he is there "all of the time," reflective of a tight-knit Italian family.

LiPetri's campaign elaborated in a text message that the rental is with his girlfriend, and that he has not switched his voting or mailing address because the relationship has progressed to the couple now being engaged and house hunting. "No sense in switching everything temporarily to only change it again a year later," the text states.

LiPetri, in the interview, said his living arrangements underscore that — unlike older and wealthier candidates — "I’m literally the only one who has skin in the game."

"Who else knows better than someone like myself," LiPetri said, "who’s in his mid-30s, looking to build a family, who rents and wants to buy a home in the future, and now can’t do so because the cost of living is so high due to Democratic policies."