Political analyst breaks down heated debate between Suozzi, LiPetri

Well, this race is one of many in the country that could determine the balance of power in the House. So we want to bring in a political analyst to break down the debate. And what's at stake? Christopher Malone joins us now once again. Chris, good morning. Thanks for joining us this morning. Good to see you. What did you see in that debate last night? Thanks again for having me, folks. Well, the first thing I'll say, Rich, is I'm glad we had a debate, given that many other Long Island candidates have turned away the opportunity to debate. And the setup really did stress a lot of the themes that we saw. Independence, corruption with the congressional stock trading issue, experience, whether that's a good thing or bad thing from Tom Suozzi's perspective, and trust. Who do you trust more? So it was really a microcosm of the district. Keep in mind that Suozzi won this in 2024 narrowly, but it was also a district that went to Donald Trump in 2024. So the issue of independence really played prominently here. Did you think anyone won full out? And if there was one issue that really across the board may affect Long Islanders the most, or may they have picked out of that debate, what was it? Yeah, Aaron, you know, I don't think when you have an incumbent and incumbent on stage, the thing that you don't want to do as the incumbent is to make any major gaffes. And I think that Suozzi passed that test. So in that sense, I think he won. But at the same time, Lopetri made some good points about Suozzi's longevity as a politician, as someone who is benefiting from his time in Congress with the congressional stock trading issue. So I don't think there was any knockout punch, if you want to put it that way. But Lopetri has a tough road to hoe because Democratic voters are more enthusiastic this time around. and Suozzi played up his independence during the debate and during his time in Congress. Chris, lastly, there's some new polling out this morning from CNN suggesting exactly what you just said. Democrats, or at least voters, are favoring Democrats, particularly on the affordability issue. In a debate like this, what is the challenge then for Lopetri? Do you think he was able to show he had more of an advantage on that front where people are really struggling right now? Yeah, that's right, Rich. affordability has been the term that we've been dealing with the name for the last year or so, Lopetri tried to make it a localized issue, congestion pricing, electricity bills. And what you saw on Swazi's side is that he tried to tie it to Trump's policies nationally, tariffs, the war in Iran. So Lopetri had an opportunity to make this a very local issue. And the way I would frame it is that Lopetri, you know, appealed to affordability on a visceral level in terms of, you know, pocketbook issues right at home. But Swazi was really talking about a systemic problem that Washington needs to solve with the Trump administration. Political analyst Chris Malone, thanks so much for joining us and giving us your insight this morning.