By Prof. Indrajit Saluja and Parveen Chopra

The early bird gets the worm, goes the saying. Indeed, even as Republicans took time to  announce their candidate for the seat in New York that fell vacant by the expulsion from Congress of the disgraced  Geroge Santos, Democrat Tom Suozzi hit the ground running. So, the former Nassau County Executive and three-term Congressman (2017-2022) who represented the same District 3, has placed himself in a position of  advantage.

Announced by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the special election is scheduled for February 13. District 3 encompasses large parts of Nassau County, and a part of Queens, with a  fair proportion of the well-to-do Indian community residing there.

Tom Suozzi gave an exclusive interview last weekend to The Indian Panorama. It was his first engagement after the Democratic party nominated him as the ideal candidate to flip the seat. I was particularly impressed with his reply to my question why he chose to seek election to Congress. Here is what he said: “America is an idea that all men and women are created equal. And if you embrace that, you’re just as American as anybody else.  And that idea is under threat. One of the reasons I’m getting back into public service is to try and address that threat.”

Here are excerpts from the interview.

TIP: Welcome, Mr. Suozzi. We want a Congressman who has been an achiever, who has already done a lot of work for his constituents. And we want you in Washington again. We are sure that notwithstanding the Republican challenge and the fact that Long Island has largely turned red, you will make sure that a Democrat represents us in the US House.

So, first, tell our readers why you think you are the best candidate for them.

Tom Suozzi: For our Indian American constituents, let me first say Namaste, and for the Sikh friends, Sat Sri Akal.

I think that I’m the best person for this job because we’ve got a lot of distrust that exists in politics these days. And people want someone they feel comfortable with, somebody that they respect, and that they won’t be surprised by their behavior.

That’s not to say that everybody likes me or likes everything I’ve done, but at least they know me. And I’ve got a record of getting things done to help make people’s lives better.

People have a sense of dread about what’s going on in the world these days. They’re concerned about the cost of living. They’re concerned about the immigration crisis in America. They’re concerned about crime and public safety. A lot of violence has been directed towards turban-wearing American Sikhs, other South Asians, and Asians.

Then there is the climate crisis and wars in Israel and Ukraine. People look to Washington DC to our leaders, and they say, “What are you doing to address the things I’m concerned about? What are you doing to address the problems that affect my life? All I see you doing is pointing fingers at each other and attacking each other.” You know, they (the Republicans) kicked the Speaker out. They can’t fund the government, endangering a government shutdown. ‘Do nothing Congress’ they have turned it into. And people are getting more and more frustrated. Then you had the disgraced George Santos in that seat.

Remember that I have a record of getting things done. I brought money back to the district. I cleaned up the pollution. I helped people with their constituent issues related to the federal government: immigration, Social Security, and healthcare. During COVID-19, I fought for the state and brought more money and aid to New York and our hospitals.

I also have a record of working across party lines. I was on the problem solvers caucus. This race is not going to be just about Democrat versus Republican. If it was, that probably wouldn’t be good for me because, as you said, Republicans have been winning on Long Island and I’m a Democrat. But to serve the people I’ll work with anybody – Republican, Democrat, or Progressive. I’ll try and find common ground. We passed the bipartisan multibillion-dollar infrastructure bill for roads and bridges and trains and airports and the ports.

TIP:  That is why, Mr. Suozzi, you always get the support of a large majority of voters who see what a candidate can do for them rather than go by party affiliation.

Tom Suozzi: Yes. I think the time is right for that message right now. And it’s always been my message and people are hungering for that because every problem we face in the country is complicated. But you cannot solve complicated problems in an environment of fear and anger, where everybody is yelling at each other. You need people of goodwill to sit down across the table to try and find common ground.

TIP: You are well regarded by the Indian American community in Nassau County.

Tom Suozzi: I’ve got a very warm feeling for the Indian Americans starting from my days as Glen Cove Mayor way back in the 1990s. My story is that my father came to the US as a young boy from Italy and became a success story. He went to Fordham University and fought in World War Two as a navigator. Graduating from Harvard Law School, he couldn’t get a job at a law firm because nobody liked the Italians after Mussolini teamed up with Hitler. Not disheartened, he went on to get elected as city court judge at age 28.

So, when I think of the Indian American experience, I see the same story and I see the same striving to succeed in their adopted country. You still love your native land, and celebrate the culture, food, and history. But you’ve adopted the idea of America and made it your own.

America is an idea that all men and women are created equal. And if you embrace that, you’re just as American as anybody else.  And that idea is under threat. One of the reasons I’m getting back into public service is to try and address that threat. But I’ve always found that like Italian Americans, and Irish Americans from my mother’s side, Indian Americans have that same love of America, that same sense of hard work and opportunity, the same love for their fellow human beings, and the love of family.

I’ve enjoyed learning about the Indian American community, and its diversity. I’ve got tremendous friends in the community.

TIP:   The Indian American community has done very well for themselves, but now they are getting worried about safety and security. Some believe that it is the GOP which is harder on crime. How do you address their concerns?

Tom Suozzi: Yes, your community has done spectacularly well. They are hardworking, well-educated, and very entrepreneurial. I’m conscious of their concern. But I want both the Democrats and the Republicans to vote for me as I’m very committed to public safety. The priority of the government is to make sure that the citizenry is safe.

As mayor of the city of Glen Cove, I oversaw the Police Department and we were one of the safest communities in the country. Later, as executive of Nassau County, I ran the 12th largest police department in the country and we were the safest place for over 500,000 people. We saw record crime decreases every year when I was in office.

Later, when I was in Congress, protests against the police erupted in the wake of the horrific murder of George Floyd. Bad behavior by police officers must be called out. But during that same period, I honored police officers from my district for their service. That was not easy to do amid the protests, but I wanted the police to always know that I supported them. We can’t let a few bad actors ruin the reputation of the overwhelmingly good police, which is so important to our safety and our quality of life.

TIP:  You visited  India as part of a Congressional delegation. What were your impressions of the country?

Tom Suozzi: I had a wonderful time during that brief official trip in 2018. We met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In Delhi, we visited the BAPS  temple (Akshardham). Of course, we went to see the Taj Mahal, which I never knew was a Muslim burial site.

I got the impression that India is moving forward very rapidly. I see more and more success there because India has embraced democracy as well as capitalism, the two best systems that can be.

This is what I talk about in America also. Capitalism is taking more people out of poverty and has resulted in more innovation than any system in the world. But its competitive underpinning results in some people doing very well and some others doing very poorly. So, we say, okay, we got another system. It’s called democracy, where we set up protections so that nobody is to be relegated to a life of hunger and homelessness. The challenge is, how do you find a balance between these two systems?

Somehow, in recent years and decades in America, the middle class has been hollowed out with more people making tremendous amounts of wealth, and a lot more people not even able to make ends meet. So, we have to do a better job of rebuilding the middle class in America.

I helped pass the bipartisan Chips Act to try and bring semiconductors back to America. We must restart manufacturing items ourselves, and you’ll see more supply chains and so on.

TIP:  What do you promise to your constituents in NY District 3? Why should they vote for you?

Tom Suozzi: I promise my constituents that I will work as hard as I can. Every single day. I have to try and make their lives better, and to help them solve the problems they face in their lives to the extent that I can. I promise my constituents that I will never embarrass them or make them ashamed that I’m their representative. And I promise them that I will be open and accessible and will treat everyone in my constituency as though I was the best friend they ever had.

TIP: How are you getting the word out about this special election, which is likely to see a low turnout, and getting the vote out for you?

Tom Suozzi: The election is on February 13. So, it’s a very short period from now. My campaign has divided the Congressional District of 790,000 people into 16 regions as different regions have different characteristics and different groups of people. For example, in Hicksville, there are a lot of longtime residents as well as a lot of newcomers from India and Pakistan. So, we are going to have outreach to all those different communities.

I have a great advantage, I think, in this race, because I’ve been around here a long time and because of the good things that I’ve tried to do, and I have high name recognition. My opponents will spend millions of dollars trying to make me look bad but because people know me and because of the work we’re going to do during this campaign, we’ll be able to get people to come out and vote for me.

I take the ground campaign seriously, that’s person-to-person, getting people to talk to their friends, relatives, and coworkers to spread the word. And that’s going to be a highly organized effort, with some very professional people helping me to pull that together. My team is already in place.

I am confident of winning the race and will restore sanity to Washington.

(Prof Indrajit Saluja is the Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Panorama, and Parveen Chopra, the former editor of  The South Asian Times, is the founder-editor of ALotusInTheMud.com)