Thomas Suozzi

His father, Joseph A. Suozzi, who was born in Ruvo del Monte, Italy, was an attorney and served as Glen Cove mayor from 1956 to 1960.

His mother, Marguerite (née Holmes), of Irish and English descent, was an operating room nurse at Glen Cove Hospital.

Thomas Richard Suozzi (born August 31, 1962) is an American politician, attorney, and accountant serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 3rd congressional district since 2024 and previously from 2017 to 2023.

The youngest of five siblings, Suozzi was born on August 31, 1962, in Glen Cove, New York.

Suozzi graduated from Chaminade High School in 1980.

He attended Boston College, graduating in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in accounting.

He became a certified public accountant two years later.

Before entering politics, Suozzi worked as an accountant at Arthur Andersen from 1984 to 1986, a law clerk to Thomas Collier Platt Jr.. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 1989 to 1990, and a commercial litigator at Shearman & Sterling from 1990 to 1993.

He then earned a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1989.

In 1993, Suozzi was elected mayor of Glen Cove, New York.

He served as mayor for four terms.

His father and his uncle, Vincent Suozzi, were mayors of Glen Cove before him.

As mayor, Suozzi focused on environmental cleanup of commercial and industrial sites, and redeveloping brownfield and superfund sites.

In 1994, the Glen Cove incinerator was permanently closed and dismantled.

In 1998, the city demolished and redeveloped the defunct Li Tungsten Refinery grounds, a federal superfund site.

By 1999, Nassau was on the brink of financial collapse: the county faced a $300 million annual deficit, was billions of dollars in debt, and its credit rating had sunk to one level above junk status.

According to The New York Times, he "earned high marks from independent institutions for his signature achievement, the resuscitation of Nassau's finances."

While in office, Suozzi cut spending and reduced borrowing and debt.

He also oversaw 11 county bond upgrades over two years, eliminated deficits in Nassau, and accumulated surpluses.

Suozzi was elected Nassau County Executive in 2001, becoming the first Democrat elected to the position in traditionally Republican Nassau in 30 years.

He assumed office amid a fiscal crisis.

A member of the Democratic Party, he was the county executive of Nassau County on Long Island from 2002 to 2009, when he was unseated by Republican Ed Mangano.

Before that, Suozzi served eight years as the mayor of Glen Cove in Nassau County.

In 2005, Governing Magazine named him one of its Public Officials of the Year, calling him "the man who spearheaded Nassau County, New York's, remarkable turnaround from the brink of fiscal disaster."

According to The New York Times, he garnered praise for social services like his "no wrong door" program, which centralized access to social services.

In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully against Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York.

Suozzi declared his candidacy for governor of New York in the Democratic primary against Eliot Spitzer on February 25, 2006.

Few prominent Democrats apart from Nassau County Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs supported his bid; most of New York's Democratic legislators and mayors campaigned for Spitzer.

One of Suozzi's biggest supporters was Victor Rodriguez, founder of the now disbanded Voter Rights Party.

Suozzi narrowly lost the 2009 county executive election to Ed Mangano.

Suozzi returned to the private sector from 2010 to 2016, working as an attorney of counsel at Harris Beach, and as a consultant for Cablevision and Lazard.

After leaving Congress, he became co-chair of Actum LLC, a global consulting firm.

After working in the private sector as an attorney, he announced that he would seek a rematch against Mangano in 2013.

He attacked Mangano for "presiding over a decline in the county" while also emphasizing eight years of balanced budgets and reduced crime while he was county executive.

In November 2013, Mangano defeated Suozzi by a much wider margin of 59% to 41%.

Suozzi was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 and reelected in 2018 and 2020.

He retired from Congress to run again for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2022, losing to incumbent governor Kathy Hochul.

In October 2023, Suozzi announced that he would run for his old congressional seat in 2024.

After Congress expelled George Santos that December, a special election to fill the remainder of the term was scheduled for February 13, 2024.

Suozzi was selected as the Democratic nominee, and then won the special election, reclaiming the seat for Democrats.