GOP 'texting' the waters in CD3

Daily Point

Republicans test messaging for early voting in CD3

With 18 days to go until early voting starts in the election to replace George Santos in Congress, Republicans appear to be questioning likely residents of the Third Congressional District on whether they view early voting by mail and in person as legitimate and perhaps nudging them to do it.

A text message survey sent this week to CD3 residents and obtained by The Point contains the usual questions on approval of the candidates, Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip and Democrat Tom Suozzi, and the 2024 presidential front-runners Joe Biden and Donald Trump, with an opinion of Santos thrown in for good measure.

Most interestingly, however, are the more than a dozen questions about attitudes toward early voting, several of which seem to be trying to convince those voters who might be hesitant to give it a try. It’s a little of the yin and yang of the Republican dilemma: The state and national GOP organizations have a pending lawsuit claiming the New York Early Mail Voters Act is unconstitutional, an argument that could put the Nassau County GOP at a strategic disadvantage in the Feb. 13 special election. An upstate judge has denied the party's request to halt early voting by mail in the CD3 contest.

Here are some of the questions that those taking the survey were asked about their views of early voting, as well as some of the statements that appear to be test arguments that could be used to influence participation:

• To what extent do you trust or distrust New York’s current system for absentee by mail voting to accurately count each voter’s ballot? (Interestingly, the language adopts the argument of the Republican lawsuit saying early voting by mail is an illegal absentee vote.)
• Voting early either in-person or by mail allows Republican campaigns and organizations to divert more resources to people yet to cast a ballot.
• If you bank your vote by voting early, you will help push back on the mainstream media narrative that Democrats are more fired up than Republicans.
• Leading Republicans like Donald Trump have endorsed early voting.
• Left-wing groups have been using absentee and early ballots for years to gain an unfair advantage over Republicans. Voting early helps level the playing field and prevent them from rigging elections.

Brian Devine, a spokesman for the Pilip campaign, said the survey was not commissioned by the campaign, adding that he wouldn’t know whether any PAC supporting her was funding it.

The Suozzi campaign is not sponsoring the survey, said spokeswoman Kim Devlin. Meanwhile, Nassau County Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs said the party’s strategy to heavily push early mail-in voting and early in-person voting which begins on Feb. 3 was already underway. “What’s the weather going to be like on February 13?” he said. “There could be a blizzard.”

The other benefit, said Jacobs, is that if you know those votes have been cast, you can focus the day of the election on which Democrats have to be turned out.

Jacobs said the first day of early voting, a Saturday, was being labeled “Labor Day” to inspire the unions supporting Suozzi to get their members to the polls. On a Zoom meeting with “zone leaders” Tuesday night, Jacobs said the push now was to get registered Democrats to request standard absentee ballots as well as early voting mail-in ballots and to make sure the zone leaders follow up to make sure the paperwork is returned to the Nassau County Board of Elections.

As to the seeming contradiction of the Republicans trying to stop early mail-in voting in court while trying to convince their followers to take advantage of it in this specific election, Jacobs said, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

— Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com

Pencil Point

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Talking Point

Luminaries among Christie's 'LI blues'

While many of Long Island’s Republicans are wearing bright red MAGA hats these days, some are blue about the departure from the presidential race of Donald Trump’s biggest critic — former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who bowed out last week.

Long Islanders contributed $83,900 to Christie’s campaign, part of the $336,500 raised from all New Yorkers, according to federal records filed through the third quarter of 2023 and reviewed by The Point. These individual donations ranged from $50 to $3,400. There may be even more Long Island money contributed to Christie’s campaign that will show up when the latest federal filings become available.

In all, there were at least 49 Christie backers from Long Island, including such well-known figures as former Mets team owner Fred Wilpon and real estate magnate Scott Rechler. Many declined to talk or couldn’t be reached for comment.

Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who lives in Manhasset, gave $3,300 to Christie in June 2023, according to records. He was traveling out of the country, said his office, and wasn’t available for comment. But Scaramucci has made clear his strong opposition to his former boss Trump and said he’s willing to back President Joe Biden if he faces Trump in November’s election. “I’m a patriot first, a partisan second,” Scaramucci told CNN over the weekend. “This is about a battle for the American democracy.”

Those who did speak with The Point about their reasons said their donations were meant as much to thwart Trump’s pursuit of the 2024 GOP nomination as they were to promote Christie. Some said they admired that Christie was willing to directly criticize the former president during the early primary-season debates, unlike other GOP challengers.

“He was the only one who was honest about Trump,” said a Roslyn Heights businessman who gave $500 to Christie and asked that his name not be used. This sentiment was echoed by a Shelter Island entrepreneur who gave $200 to Christie because he was willing to criticize Trump’s behavior. “He [Christie] was willing to say the emperor has no clothes,” he said. That same entrepreneur asked The Point not to use his name because he didn’t want to offend his employees, many of whom, he said, are Trump supporters.

— Thomas Maier thomas.maier@newsday.com

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