My thoughts? "A Shinner for Senator?"
No, that's a lie. My actual thought was that Smash will post in this thread and claim that this would result in an easy pickup in NY-3...
No, I don't think it would. With that being said I think last years results in Nassau was a major wake up call to the Democrats and despite the loss he had last year Suozzi would be a top tier candidate, and with his state ambitions out the window it makes him more likely to run. Mejias would also be a strong and motivated candidate despite the loss he had. For the GOP the strongest candidates would be Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto, who would certainly be a formidable candidate and State Senator Charles Fuschillo. I highly doubt Fuschillo would run since he would have to give up his State Senate seat in order to do so especially considering the slim Dem advantage in the State Senate now, with redistricting around the corner and his State Senate seat being FAR from safe if it were to be an open race (enrollment is basically even). He would be more likely to jump in if this was 2012, though if he feels the GOP has no chance of regaining the State Senate (which isn't far off) then he could jump in.
Other possible candidates for the Dems could be Nassau DA Kathleen Rice (probably the strongest of everyone) though the chances of that are real slim since she likely gets the AG nod once Cuomo announces his run for Gov. Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone could be a possibility, but probably unlikely since Suffolk only makes up a little over 20% of the district. Other possible GOP candidate could be the new Presiding officer in the Nassau Legislature Peter Schmitt, who is close to Peter King, but his closeness to Gullotta could hurt him, or former Assemblyman Rob Walker, though that is probably unlikely due to him recently becoming Deputy CE for Mangano.
