“The far Left and the far Right, you know, they’re all very well organized,” Suozzi said during a recent Fox News interview. “But those of us that don’t support those far-left or far-right principles need to do a better job organizing and getting our message out.”

Democratic strategist Basil Smikle Jr. said Suozzi’s strategy reflects the political realities of his suburban swing district.

“It’s a fairly safe position for him,” Smikle Jr. told the Washington Examiner.

Unlike Democrats representing safely blue urban districts, Suozzi must appeal to moderate and independent voters who have repeatedly swung between the two parties. In Suozzi’s seat, the swing has been especially pronounced. In 2020, former President Joe Biden won the seat by 55% to Trump’s 44%. Four years later, Trump got 51% of the vote to former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 47%.

“It’s a tough district to hold if you’re a Democrat, and it’s a tough district to hold if you’re a Republican,” Jim Kessler from Third Way told the Washington Examiner. “It is a true swing district.”

Kessler argued Suozzi has always been a “Democratic loyalist” and his recent criticism of socialism is about more than just the politics of his district.

“He has always looked out for what he believes is in the best interests of the Democratic Party, because he believes that Democrats have the best ideas for America, and you know, he sees the party veering off course,” he said.

Suozzi has represented New York’s 3rd Congressional District since February 2024, when he won a special election to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos. He previously represented the district from 2017 to 2023 before leaving to mount an unsuccessful Democratic primary challenge against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY).

Suozzi won the 2024 special election, in part, by running against Biden’s handling of the border crisis. On the campaign trail, Suozzi pledged to work with Republicans to secure the border in a bipartisan fashion. After winning, Suozzi voted for the Laken Riley Act, which requires federal law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants charged or convicted of a crime until they can be deported.

“He’s always been someone who is, you know, has had the confidence to speak his mind and to say what he believes and say the obvious, even though a lot of times politicians avoid the obvious,” said Kessler.

Republicans, however, are betting that distancing himself from socialism won’t be enough. They argue the Democratic Party has become the primary vehicle for advancing socialist ideas, making Suozzi inseparable from its leftward drift in the eyes of voters.

Former state Assemblyman Mike LiPetri, the GOP nominee against Suozzi in November, told the Washington Examiner that socialists have a “chokehold on the Democrat Party.”

“The residents of NY-03 are smart – they see through the phoniness, they see that as the socialist takeover continues to spread that our common-sense Long Island values will be at threat,” said LiPetri. “Republicans are focused on lowering costs and deliver safe and secure communities while Suozzi and [Kathy] Hochul are selling us out and bending the knee to their far-left.”

LiPetri has labeled his opponent “Two-Faced,” pointing to Suozzi’s past support for the “Green New Deal” — a climate proposal embraced by many progressives and socialists — as evidence that the incumbent’s rhetoric is at odds with his record.

Whether Suozzi’s effort to separate himself from the party’s left flank succeeds could have implications beyond Long Island. Suozzi’s strategy reflects a broader debate among Democrats over how to respond as socialists expand their influence in blue-state primaries while the party continues trying to win swing districts.

“I think a lot of DSA wins over the last two years, including the election of the mayor and these more recent members of Congress, were often, it was often dismissed as a New York phenomenon, but it’s clearly not,” Smikle Jr. said. “The [New York City] mayor, the Democratic nominee for mayor in Washington, D.C., the wins in Colorado, have suggested that DSA is not going to go anywhere, but there’s still places where moderate and conservative Democrats are going to win.”

Kessler echoed that sentiment, saying what voters are looking for in primary candidates is “less ideological” and more that they are “looking for a fighter who is authentic and is for reform.”

“You don’t have to parrot the ridiculous talking points of the democratic socialists,” Kessler said. “You can be yourself, but you’ve got to be out there fighting hard, because you know there’s a political storm out there right now.”

Republicans contend Suozzi’s effort to distinguish himself from the Democratic Party’s socialist wing is little more than political branding.

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Conner Dunleavy, a Republican running for state Assembly in Suozzi’s district, called the “Promise to America” pledge “entirely performative,” arguing Suozzi’s anti-socialist messaging amounts to little more than political “virtue signaling.”

“Tom Suozzi can say whatever he wants because he’s two-faced Tom,” Dunleavy told the Washington Examiner. “He’ll say that he rejects this kind of rhetoric, but he won’t do anything to stop it.”