Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip (R-Great Neck)—the Republican candidate for New York’s 3rd Congressional District—announced that she has received endorsements from two law enforcement associations and former Republican Congressman Peter King. 

Pilip is running against Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi, who held the seat for six years, in a special election on Tuesday, Feb. 13, to replace George Santos. 

The Nassau County Police Detectives and Sherriff’s Correction Officers Benevolent Associations endorsed Pilip, who said she has made it a top priority in her two years as county legislator to support law enforcement. 

“Crime and public safety are some of the top issues I hear about as I spend time with residents across the district. It’s undeniable that there has been a sharp increase across our state over the last few years as more and more progressive policies have been instituted by Albany, like ‘cashless bail,’” Pilip said in a statement. “As congresswoman, I will continue to ‘back the blue’ as I fight to support and expand law enforcement.”

King, 79, served in the U.S. House of Congress representing the 3rd and then 2nd Congressional Districts from 1993 to 2021. King also asked the Suozzi campaign to stop running a TV advertisement that used his likeness, which he called “misleading.”

“The Suozzi campaign is sending the false message to the voters of the 3rd Congressional District that I support his bid for Congress,” King said in a statement. “The truth is that from the very beginning I have endorsed Legislator Pilip in this race. I believe she is the fighter that the district and the American people need, and I believe that in Congress she will stand up to extremists and make sure we secure our southern border, fix the economy, and support our law enforcement.”

The Suozzi campaign said the advertisement in question was paid for by the House Majority PAC, which focuses on electing Democrats to the House of Representatives. The advertisement, which shows pictures of Suozzi and King while a narrator says Suozzi has worked “with both parties”, says it was paid for by the PAC and not authorized by the candidate or any of his committees. 

“We don’t expect Peter King to endorse Tom Suozzi, but Tom and Rep. King have long worked together on bipartisan priorities including, the State and Local Tax deduction (SALT), cleanup of the Bethpage plume, universal background checks on gun purchases, and an immigration “grand compromise”, among other things,” said Suozzi for Congress senior adviser Kim Devlin in a statement to Blank Slate Media. 

Devlin went on to say Suozzi is willing to work across the aisle and “that’s why the voters in Nassau and Queens know he will have their back in Congress.”

The House Majority PAC said that Suozzi and King have previously worked together for years.

“Tom Suozzi and Pete King have a long bipartisan history of working together to strengthen border security and pass immigration reform, no matter what Mazi Pilip and her Conservative Party bosses say,” House Majority PAC N.Y. Press Secretary Alisha Heng said in a statement to Blank Slate Media. “It’s telling that Mazi Pilip’s first comment in weeks is to attack Tom Suozzi’s proven record of working with both parties to deliver for the people of Nassau and Queens. The voters know who Tom Suozzi is, what is Mazi Pilip hiding?”

Brian Devine, the communications director for the Pilip campaign, the voters in the 3rd Congressional District deserve better.