California Democrat laments what Suozzi victory means for the party's immigration stance: 'Piñata' issue

close

Video

Democrat Tom Suozzi defeats Republican Mazi Pilip

Fox News' Trace Gallagher reports on the outcome of New York's special election.

Some California Democrats are worried about what Tom Suozzi's victory in New York might mean for the party's immigration stance as he campaigned on tougher border enforcement. 

"The good thing about the Suozzi victory is that Suozzi won. The bad thing about the Suozzi victory is Suozzi won," Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Times. "He doubled down on immigration."

"Maybe that’s the winning formula. But to have immigration now be the piñata that everybody’s going to beat up on is not good," he said. 

Correa said there were Latinos in his district wondering why so many people were being let into the country when people who have been in the U.S. for years can't get work permits. 

Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference with (L-R) House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on January 29, 2024, in Washington, DC ((Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

DEMS FLIP SEAT AS SUOZZI WINS CRUCIAL SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN NEW YORK

"You cannot sit there and explain to people... You’ve got to come up with a slogan. Is the slogan going to be ‘Kick them all out’? That’s the challenge we have," he told the media outlet.

During the campaign, Suozzi debated Republican Mazi Pilip and said he supported long-term immigration solutions. 

"There's a solution that's been proposed in the United States Senate that would actually build more wall, would get more border agents, would deal with asylum seekers, would reform the laws to make it better, and would give money to the state of New York and the city of New York to deal with the migrant crisis that we currently have," Suozzi said. 

Suozzi's campaign ads also promised to "secure the border and praised ICE as a vital agency," according to Politico. 

House Oversight and Accountability Committee member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters as she is joined by fellow House Democrats in the Rayburn House Office Building on December 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

NEW YORK SPECIAL ELECTION CANDIDATES CLASH OVER BORDER CRISIS, ABORTION: 'YOU CREATED THIS ISSUE'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also expressed concern for the party's immigration stance after Suozzi's victory. 

"We need to be very careful," Ocasio-Cortez said. "You’re never going to out-Republican a Republican."

"I actually don’t think that it’s necessarily the playbook that would apply to the rest of the country," Ocasio-Cortez told Politico. 

Rep. Lou Correa said he was concerned about the party's immigration stance after Tom Suozzi's victory in New York. (Left: (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images), Right: (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images))

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

An immigration advocacy group, America's Voice, told the LA Times that they took issue with some of Suozzi's campaign promises, but said that he took a "both/and" approach in "addressing concerns over the border but also not stopping there, and instead broadening his immigration focus."

Suozzi also included "full-throated support for citizenship and legal status for long-settled immigrants," America's Voice executive director Vanessa Cárdenas said. 

Fox News' Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.