Nassau GOP appear scared by Hach challenge

 

Greg Hach

For now, forget Tom Suozzi, the Democrat seeking re-election in the Third Congressional District.

Yes, Vice President J.D. Vance trashed Suozzi at a Republican event in Bethpage Wednesday.

And Suozzi is facing a Democratic primary challenge from public defender Danielle Welch.  

Mike LiPetri
But Suozzi has weathered past punches from other powerful politicians. And Suozzi has $5.5 million in the bank for his race while Welch, an relative unknown, reported a paltry $7,800 in her campaign account as of June 3.

The contest generating the most heat is the Republican primary in which GOP maverick Greg Hach, a Hicksville attorney and Air Force veteran, is challenging former New York Assemblyman Mike LiPetri for the Republican nomination in the Third Congressional District.

LiPetri is the Nassau GOP committee's chosen candidate even though he bucked the party in 2020 to make an unsuccessful primary challenge to 2nd District Congressional candidate Andrew Garbarino, who was the GOP's endorsed choice.

Garbarino smoked LiPetri by a two to one margin in the 2020 primary election and went on to win the general election.

Now Nassau GOP chairman Joe Cairo seems spooked by the Hach challenge.

Hach charged out of the gate weeks ago, with television commercials and internet ads pounding LiPetri, as a 35-year-old who lives at home with his parents. 

LiPetri didn't respond for days -- a potentially fatal mistake that allows your opponent to brand you with an unflattering image.

When LiPetri did respond he didn't rebut the allegations but touted his own record as a former member of the New York State Assembly. Yes, the same Assembly seat that LiPetri gave up to make his ill-fated run against Garbarino.

LiPetri finally pressed on the gas by touting on tv his endorsement by President Donald Trump.

But Hach is a solid conservative who says he supports trump.

So some political heavyweights were called in to promote LiPetri's candidacy. 

 U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican, campaigned for LiPetri last weekend.

And Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday also touted LiPetri while blasting Suozzi. 

One thing to remember is that Congressional District 3 includes North Hempstead, where Republicans have a fragile majority, along with a portion of Queens. That means that  Nassau Republican Chairman Joe Cairo has less leverage to pull out the vote than he does in the Republican strongholds of Hempstead and Oyster Bay towns.

Reportedly a major problem for Cairo and LiPetri is a mutiny from the GOP organization's own foot soldiers, who have not forgiven LiPetri's 2020 apparent treachery toward the party's chosen candidate.

Newsday reported on Wednesday that Cairo dressed down committee members at a Farmingdale event for not working hard enough to get out the vote for LiPetri. Early voting started Saturday. By Tuesady, only 866 Nassau Republicans had voted in the CD3 primary, Newsday said.

But who did those Republicans vote for? LiPetri or Hach?


 

 

 

 


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