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Pilip, a county legislator, will face Democratic former U.S.
Representative Tom Suozzi in the Feb. 13 special election, which
is expected to be highly competitive and could erode
Republicans' already slim 221-213 House majority.
Pilip moved to Israel as part of Operation Solomon as a child.
In 2021, she was elected to the county legislature in Nassau
County, just east of New York City and part of the district she
would represent if elected to Congress.
Pilip had not been among the 19 people who had previously filed
to run for Santos' seat. Other Republican contenders had
included a retired NYPD detective, a personal-injury lawyer and
a former bank vice president. Party leaders had interviewed 20
people over four days, a senior party official said.
The House early this month moved in a bipartisan 311-114 vote to
expel Santos, after he fabricated significant portions of his
biography on the campaign trail and was indicted for corruption
charges.
Santos, who served 11 months of a two-year term, was the sixth
lawmaker in U.S. history to be expelled. He pleaded not guilty
to the 23 charges against him filed by federal prosecutors, with
his trial scheduled to start Sept. 9, 2024, but a court filing
this week showed he was in plea talks with U.S. prosecutors.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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