So, Tom Suozzi once again wants to live in Albany?

In the wake of his announcement that he is entering the Democratic primary for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi faces a pretty daunting obstacle: New York City Democrats.
The city’s Democratic voter base, and the political bosses who select their primary candidates, mock anyone beyond the five boroughs. They know their statewide candidates will need Long Island votes in the general election, but that doesn’t mean they want a Long Islander leading the ticket. Think of neighboring Gotham as deadly kryptonite that destroys the aspirations of every suburban Democrat who wants a shot at running statewide.
We already know the roster of Long Island politicians whose statewide campaigns died at the Queens line. Kathleen Rice and Steve Levy come immediately to mind, but there are others. In the 1960s, the highly respected Nassau County Executive Eugene Nickerson couldn’t win the Democratic primary for Senate, despite the backing of none other than Robert F. Kennedy.
Huntington Town Supervisor Jerome Ambro took on Basil Paterson for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1970. Ambro promptly lost that contest to Patterson.
And Tom Suozzi knows what it’s like to run and lose a statewide primary race. In 2006, he ran against Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for governor. He quickly lost to the Manhattan-based Spitzer (although Spitzer may still wonder what his life might have been like had he lost and then quietly repaired to the family business of making millions in real estate).

So why is it that Suozzi believes that this time is the charm?
For starters, the Democratic Party is unrecognizable. There are more left-leaning city Democratic power players than Politburo members in Red Square on May Day. And that’s the least of it. Consider a New York Post report that revealed how a Bronx-based congressman, Jamaal Bowman, “is facing the fury of the Democratic Socialists of America, who have accused him of betrayal for visiting Israel and meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.” That action alone reveals that Suozzi’s Democratic Party has a cancer eating away at its soul.
Suozzi’s primary strategy is to position himself as a centrist in a race that will compel Democrats to choose among the progressive, the progressive lite and the still to be politically defined gubernatorial incumbent. Suozzi will have the advantage of fundraising among deep-pocketed New York City business leaders who have the right to fear a state lurching left. They have been desperately looking for a “common-sense” Democrat whom they can support, so it is no accident that the phrase “common-sense candidate” is now Suozzi’s adopted slogan.
While Suozzi and his primary competitors seek to position themselves for a win, they need to recognize that a primary victory is not an anointment to be governor. As this past Election Day revealed, there is a quiet but seething anger among voters who rightly view the progressive/socialist agenda, such as “bail reform,” as destructive to their quality of life and core values. In a state reputed to be deeply blue, there is every reason to believe that a Republican gubernatorial candidate could win by tapping into the anger, and not a little bit of fear of where New York might be heading.
Much the way the Red Wave on Election Night 2021 sent a strong message that voters are not going to follow a progressive manifesto, Republican Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin could easily upset the pundits and assume office as the next governor of New York. If so, it would be nothing less than ironic if those Long Island Democrats who aspired to be governor but were blocked by New York City progressives got to attend the gubernatorial inauguration of a fellow Long Islander who ran on the Republican line.

Ronald J. Rosenberg has been an attorney for 42 years, concentrating in commercial litigation and transactions, and real estate, municipal, zoning and land use law. He founded the Garden City law firm Rosenberg Calica & Birney in 1999.