Democrats win a Congressional seat in Gatsby country

In a special election Tuesday, February 13, called because of the expulsion of former Congresscritter George Santos (R), the seat in the US House of Representatives for the 3d district from New York went to a Democrat, Tom Suozzi.

This drew a lot of attention: because the Republican margin of control of the House is already very thin, and this makes it thinner. There are possible worlds in which the Democrats end up taking control of the House before this session is over, and Hakeem Jeffries becomes Speaker. This election brings the actual timeline at least a little closer to one of those possible timelines.

What came to my mind, though, while I was watching the returns come in, was that this is Gatsby territory. The district maps clearly show the two peninsulas that qualify as real-world analogs of East Egg and West Egg. Somebody should be able to make great symbolic hay out of that fact. I can't come up with anything good, though.

It was Santos who seems almost a Gatsby-ite character. People are still trying to figure out who is the real person behind all the bull crap. Who is the real-life James Gatz?

At any rate, the question is now only a curiosity. Santos has tweeted the question "do you miss me yet" to his district. Presumably all the more or less rational among them agree: hell no. And he could end up with a very sparsely attended funeral.

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