On Tuesday, voters in New York’s 3rd Congressional District will head to the polls to elect a successor to former Republican Rep. George Santos.
Santos was expelled by the House of Representatives in December. The rare move — which was supported by 105 House Republicans — came after investigators “found substantial evidence that Santos committed federal crimes, and the freshman lawmaker was handed a 23-count indictment in October,” as The Federalist’s Tristan Justice previously summarized. Notably, Santos has yet to be convicted of a crime.
While New York may be more than 2,000 miles away from El Paso, Texas, the ongoing invasion at the U.S.-Mexico border is certainly on the minds of N.Y.-3 voters heading into Tuesday’s election. Speaking with The Federalist, Republican candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip said voters “are not happy” with President Biden’s open border policies and noted how the crisis is the No. 1 issue among the district’s residents.
“When you have [hundreds of thousands of] illegal immigrants, illegal drugs making their way from the border to here,” that’s a “big concern” for families, Pilip said. “A lot of families want to raise their children in a safe environment.”
Born in Ethiopia, Pilip immigrated to Israel with her family at the age of 12. Upon reaching adulthood, she signed up to serve in the Israel Defense Forces and later attended the University of Haifa and Tel Aviv University, where she acquired her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Following her military service and graduation from college, Pilip immigrated
