Now that indicted former representative George Santos has been expelled from his seat, local Republicans are racing to find a strong Republican candidate to succeed him in a special election early next year.
Nassau GOP chairman Joe Cairo said in an interview Friday that a committee of Queens and Nassau County Republicans — which includes former representative Peter King — hopes to zero in on three to four candidates by this week. Cairo name-checked state senator Jack Martins, Nassau County legislator Mazi Pilip, retired NYPD police detective Mike Sapraicone, Afghanistan veteran Kellen Curry, and Security Traders Association president and CEO Jim Toes as strong potential picks, though he insisted that “it’s a wide open field.”
“We want to come up with the best candidate, and we certainly will vet that candidate very thoroughly,” Cairo tells National Review. “We will engage an outside firm to do a complete background check.”
Last week, NR reported that Sapraicone was an early favorite in the Republican race, according to New York GOP sources. But it’s hard to imagine that Santos’s ringing endorsement of Sapraicone’s campaign on Sunday will do the retired police detective any favors.
I know this is a hot take but I think the only person that can beat Suozzi since the Dems are misogynistic asses and won’t let Anna Kaplan be their nominee would be @MikeSapraicone!
He’s a former cop.
A business leader.
And has the fundraising and infrastructure to go head to…— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) December 3, 2023