Rep. Tom Suozzi is warning Democrats that they face a serious messaging problem — and, in his view, it centers on the perception that the party is insufficiently patriotic.
“I love America. Unfortunately, as we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, too many Americans associate those three words only with Republicans,” Suozzi (D-NY) wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday.
“Democrats need to change that,” he added.
In the piece, Suozzi laid out a series of concerns he said he and many other Democrats have about President Trump and what he described as the country’s current direction.
“Under President Trump, we’ve fallen short on income inequality. We’ve seen masked agents go head-to-head with U.S. citizens. Our elections and voting rights have been attacked, while misinformation proliferates online amid bigotry, extremism and political violence,” he wrote.
Still, Suozzi argued that frustration with the nation’s politics should not translate into a retreat from patriotism or pride in the country’s democratic ideals.
“Despite all this, we should remain fiercely proud of the American system,” Suozzi continued. “It has enabled the quest for ‘a more perfect union’, making possible the abolition of slavery, the rights of women and black Americans to vote, the protection of civil rights, the confrontation of religious, ethnic and racial bigotry and so much more.”
According to Suozzi, patriotism does not require Americans “to whitewash the country’s shortcomings.” Instead, he said, it means facing those failures honestly while believing that the U.S. democratic system still gives the country the tools “to correct our mistakes” and build a better future.
“Democrats have long believed that America is great not because it is perfect, but because it has the capacity to become better. We must reclaim the language of patriotism, because our history teaches us that the most American thing any of us can do is help our great nation live up to the ideals charted by our Founders 250 years ago: liberty, equality, democracy and the rule of law.,” Suozzi wrote.
“Patriotism,” the congressman added, “means recognizing that America has been a force for good.”
Suozzi cited the American Revolution and how it “fueled struggles for independence, democracy and self-determination from Europe to Latin America.”
“Two and a half centuries later, America is still a beacon,” he said.
“Patriotism doesn’t demand blind loyalty,” Suozzi argued. “It demands faith that our country is worth improving and confidence that our ideals are worth defending.”
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Some recent surveys show that Democrats are less patriotic than Republicans.
Just 18% of self-described Democrats said they felt “proud” to be an American compared to 68% of Republicans, according to an Elon University poll released last month.
A separate recent Reuters/Ipsos survey found 64% of Republicans said they would display an American flag or flag bunting outside their home this July 4, compared with just 27% of Democrats.
Meanwhile, Dariliaza Avila Chevaier, the socialist who won the Democratic primary in House District 13 covering northern Manhattan and The Bronx, once boasted on social media, “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”
Suozzi, a former Nassau County executive and gubernatorial candidate who represents the swing 3rd district covering parts of Long Island and Queens, faces a tough re-election battle from Republican Michael Lipetri, a former state assemblyman.
It’s a rematch. Suozzi defeated Lipetri by only 3 percentage points in 2024, when President Trump carried the district over Democrat Kamala Harris, the former vice president.
Lipetri told The Post that Suozzi is trying to desperately distance himself from “American-hating communists” in his own party, and his own voting record, by talking about patriotism.
“Talk is cheap. This is just another example of Tom Suozzi saying whatever it takes to save himself,” Lipetri said.
“Whether it’s voter ID, mass amnesty and open borders, keeping boys in girls’ sports, or tax increases, he flips and votes exactly with the America-hating communists in his own party.”
Suozzi quit Congress in 2022 to run governor, losing to Kathy Hochul in the Democratic primary.
But he won the seat back in a special election in Feburary 2024 after convicted fraudster, Republlican Rep. George Santos, was expelled from Congress. He won re-election that fall against Lipetri in a squeaker.
“We should reject both the politics of resentment on the right and ideological purity on the left,” Suozzi’s op-ed continued. “Americans are looking for practical solutions, not endless culture wars or litmus tests.”
According to the congressman, “the choice Democrats face is clear.”
“We can allow patriotism to become a partisan label, or we can reclaim a tradition that rightly belongs to every American.”
