Takeaways from the debate between Rep. Tom Suozzi and challenger Mike LiPetri

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Republican challenger Mike LiPetri traded political punches Tuesday in Bethpage during a side-by-side TV debate on topics ranging from the economy to political independence and immigration.

The faceoff is the only televised debate in this fall’s congressional race rematch from 2024, taped by News 12 News12 with the candidates, a moderator and no audience hours before its 8 p.m. airing.

Two years ago, Suozzi, 64, narrowly defeated LiPetri, 36, a former assemblyman from Farmingdale, to keep representing New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which extends into parts of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens counties. The two provided a clear contrast and little admiration for each other two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3.

Here are the thematic takeaways:

Establishing independence from Trump, Mamdani and party leaders

A central beef was over which candidate is more submissive to their party leaders.

These arguments broke down to whether LiPetri is "100% MAGA," in line with President Donald Trump and tenets of the "Make America Great Again" movement, or Suozzi is tied to his Democratic Party leaders and the rising influence of its ascendant socialist wing in the form of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and others.

Suozzi countered several times by demanding LiPetri name an issue on which he differs from Trump, at one point saying: "You don't have any guts, Mike," because he wouldn't name a major policy difference. 

LiPetri indicated he didn’t like the Trump administration buying diesel from Russia. "I think that’s wrong," he said.

Explaining votes on SALT, stock trading: GOP 'poison pills' or passing the buck?

For his part, LiPetri ticked off a list of votes which he said reflected Suozzi was beholden to party leaders and go against Suozzi’s mantra that he works to be, and is viewed by some nonpartisan analysts, as among the most bipartisan members of Congress.

Most of the bills LiPetri listed included those that largely split all Republicans and Democrats. Most notably was Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in 2025, which extended and expanded various tax cuts, including raising the baseline state and local tax deduction cap, known as SALT, to $40,000 starting in 2025.

Suozzi and many Democrats supported such a provision but didn't vote for the bill because of other parts of the legislation, such as spending cuts or policy changes to Medicaid and food assistance, and other federal safety net programs.

That was similar to other bills listed by LiPetri against Suozzi, each carrying so-called "poison pill" provisions that undermined potential Democratic support. That included a bill rejecting socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America, and banning congressional stock trading.

"My opponent claims that he’s bipartisan and works across the aisle. Yet why on the issues the vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats agree on does Tom Suozzi vote no?" LiPetri asked.

Suozzi repeatedly said he is not beholden to any Democratic leader or his party’s left wing, in Washington or in New York, including Gov. Kathy Hochul. And he noted he’d actually launched a "capitalist not socialist" pledge for party moderates to signs, embracing free-market economics over the platform of democratic socialists.

He jabbed that LiPetri even "supports the pardons of cop beaters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6," in 2021, referring to Trump's sweeping grant of clemency to more than 1,500 people charged in the insurrection on his first day in office.

Blame for the economy, rising health insurance

Generational differences were tossed in by LiPetri as an underlying theme across a number of topics that included which party’s president — Trump or his predecessor Democrat Joe Biden — is more to blame for the economy.

On this count, LiPetri continued to hit Suozzi as a wealthy, out of touch lawmaker, while, "I'm the one that actually has skin in the game here who looks to make sure we can make it more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family."

Suozzi responded about high prices of groceries, gas and other items, "They're higher than they've ever been before. Why are they up?"

"They're up because of the tariffs, and they're up because of the Iran war," Suozzi said. "Everybody knows that."

LiPetri accused Suozzi of making millions of dollars while trading stocks in Congress; Suozzi said he no longer does so, though he said, after briefly leaving Congress at the end of 2022 he had stocks  "that happened to do very, very well."

He said he would have voted for a bill banning congressional stock trading, but Republicans added a voting-related poison pill to that bill, too.

Suozzi at one point noted rising health insurance costs, because, he said, Republicans have cut health insurance, tax credits and Medicaid and Medicare. He said the tariffs in some cases have hurt Americans and alienated U.S. allies, and Republican have "created the biggest deficit in the history of the United States of America," causing upward pressure on interest rates.

Immigration flash point

On immigration, LiPetri characterized Suozzi as calling for "mass amnesty" of undocumented immigrants, bringing up his statement that his "number-one priority" is legalizing up to 10 million people in the country who do not have legal status. Suozzi has called for a legal framework for undocumented immigrants who work, pay taxes and have no criminal record to earn legal status to stay in the United States, along with stronger border security.

"He says he’s in favor of mass deportation. He likes everything the way it is now — despite the overreaches that have taken place," Suozzi responded in describing LiPetri, referring to what critics called aggressive enforcement tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Lightning round agreement on Santos pardon and SALT repeal

In a part of the debate where the candidates were to give quick answers to a series of questions, both candidates agreed on some topics.

One of the first topics was whether they believed former Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos — who was expelled from the House in 2023 and sentenced to 7 years in prison for federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft — deserved to have his prison term commuted.

LiPetri immediately said, "No," and Suozzi also said, "Absolutely not."

Both also agreed the cap on state and local tax deductions should be fully repealed.

Asked what issue for Long Islanders isn’t getting enough attention, Suozzi said "senior citizens" and "long-term care." LiPetri answered "Water quality ... we need to focus on proactive solutions, preserve drinking water."

Asked if they supported the use of police surveillance systems like Flock Safety and Axon cameras on street poles, Suozzi offered, "Can be done on occasion, it just can’t be abused."

LiPetri said he could support the use of "license plate readers to identify criminals." But he said he wants counties and other local governments to make decisions on that, rather than lose local control.