Now that George Santos’s short, scandal-plagued political career has come to an end with his expulsion from the House of Representatives, Republicans in New York’s Third District must find someone to run in a special election to replace him. Seth Mandel profiles Mazi Melesa Pilip, the candidate for the job:
Pilip . . . was born in Ethiopia and brought to Israel as a child as part of the famed Operation Solomon airlifts. She is an Orthodox mother of seven who served as an IDF paratrooper and as vice-president of her Long Island synagogue, the former presumably a training run for the latter.
The war in Gaza will likely hover in the background of the February 13 election. . . . IDF paratroopers, meanwhile, have been leading the offensive in Khan Younis, so Pilip’s specific military experience will be of interest. . . . Pilip also entered politics in large part because of rising anti-Semitism, which her son had encountered in school. That subject is everywhere at the moment.
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