Vice President JD Vance visited Long Island Wednesday, ripping local Rep. Tom Suozzi as he vowed the congressman’s Republican opponent would help the Trump administration crack down on fraud.
Vance visited Bethpage in Nassau County, where he claimed Suozzi cared more about his stocks than public service and talked up Republican congressional candidate Mike LiPetri.
“If you need a congressman, if you need somebody who’s going to fight for you in Washington, DC, Michael LiPetri is your guy,” Vance said at Gold Coast Studios, “but if you need a wealth manager, put your money wherever Tom Suozzi is putting his money, because this is a man who hates representing you, but loves sitting at his desk and trading stocks.”
Vance said the Trump administration was helping drive down murder rates because of its hardline stance on illegal immigration.
Suozzi, who shot back at Vance at a media opportunity later that day, is known for his prolific stock portfolio performance, and even had the best outcome of any other Democrat in Congress last year, according to alternative data platform Quiver Quantitative.
His 35% windfall outpaced every major index, according to the platform, which tracks Congress members’ stock trades.
“You need somebody who goes and doesn’t trade stocks, but tries to get legislation passed that makes your life better,” Vance said.
“You need somebody who is not getting rich off the public trust, but is trying to make you rich with every single decision that he makes.”
Vance also addressed crime and fraud as he talked up LiPetri, a former state Assemblyman who is facing fellow Republican Greg Hach in a primary this month.
“One of the things that I love about Mike LiPetri is that he cares about this fraud issue just as much as I do,” said Vance, who was introduced by Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive and GOP gubernatorial candidate.
“He has this belief in an old-fashioned good government concept that when you pay your taxes, it ought to go to the services and the national security needs that it’s meant to go towards.”
The comments come a day after the feds sued Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration, alleging state health officials rigged a bid on an $11 billion Medicaid homecare program. The state health department has dismissed the legal action as “baseless.”
The VP also said murder rates in the state have plunged because “we got illegal criminals out of our country and stood behind law enforcement.”
LiPetri, 35, told The Post after the event it was “truly an honor” to have Vance’s backing as he vowed to make sure tax dollars aren’t sucked into fraud.
“Our federal government just wastes because they’re not accountable, because the Democrats don’t care for us, it’s about scrutinizing every dollar as if it’s our own,” he said.
The Republican lost to Suozzi in 2024 by just a few percentage points after the Dem won a special election against a separate GOP opponent earlier that year to fill in the House seat vacated by disgraced former lawmaker George Santos.
But Suozzi, 63, tore into the vice president during a Zoom call with reporters later Wednesday.
“The vice president really came across, as I said, as a phony, as amateurish, as childish, and as a liar,” he said.
Suozzi declined to address his stock trading, but challenged the Veep to a debate as he blasted Vance for holding a campaign-style rally during what was billed as a government event.
“From the very beginning until the very end, it was 100% a political hit job,” Suozzi said.
“So, Mr. Vice President, bring it on, come debate me any time about the policies of this administration and how they’ve affected the people of the United States of America, and the people in this district know me, and the phony baloney attacks that you made today.”