GOP picks Ethiopian-born Israeli-American to run for seat of expelled NY Rep. Santos
Nassau County legislator and former IDF paratrooper Mazi Pilip to face off against Democratic former congressman Tom Suozzi in February 13 special election
JTA — Long Island Republicans selected Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Ethiopian Jewish Nassau County legislator, to run in the special election to replace George Santos, who was expelled after he was exposed for alleged fraud and lies, including that he was Jewish.
Pilip emerged as a likely contender to replace Santos when his lies were exposed soon after his election last year, and she was officially named Thursday as the candidate, nearly two weeks after the expulsion of Santos. She will face Democrat Tom Suozzi, who is hoping to get his old job back after quitting the seat in an unsuccessful bid for governor. The special election is set for February 13.
Pilip, 44, is an Orthodox Jewish mother of seven who served as a paratrooper in the Israeli army and campaigned in Israel for better representation of Ethiopian Jews. She has also taken a prominent role in campaigning against the spike in antisemitism in New York following the brutal October 7 onslaught in which Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza.
Pilip was 12 during Operation Solomon, the 1991 airlift that brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel. After a stint in the paratroop division of the army, she studied occupational therapy and diplomacy at Israeli universities, where she met her Ukrainian-American husband who was then a medical student.
In Israel, she led the Ethiopian Student Union for two years. “I was a voice of so many young kids who wanted equal opportunity and really my main focus was especially education, because I do believe through education, you can achieve a lot and you can integrate into the society,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in January.
Pilip ran for her seat on the Nassau County legislature in 2021 in part because of the antisemitism she said her son faced in middle school. She ousted a Democrat to win her spot in 2021, campaigning by asking Jewish supporters to put her up over Shabbat so she could visit synagogues. She was handily reelected last month.
Pilip was among a broad swath of Long Island Republicans who denounced Santos and called on him to resign as soon as his deceptions were revealed.
“I trusted him and I told people to vote for him. I campaigned with him. And so when you do something like this, and then keep every day there’s something new coming about him,” she told JTA. “It’s making you feel uncomfortable because people are asking, you know, ‘What’s going on, Mazi? What happened with this guy?’”
Politico reported last week that Pilip is a registered Democrat, though she holds her current position as a Republican and has been backed by Republicans when she was running for county office. The arrangement is not entirely uncommon in states that have closed primaries, where so-called crossover voters who identify with one party register under another so they can vote in primary elections.
Times of Israel staff and AP contributed to this report.
