Since 2021, Pilip has been a member of the Nassau County Legislature. While registered as a Democrat from 2012–24, she ran for the legislature on the Republican ballot line.[4] In 2024, she was the Republican nominee for the U.S. House from New York's 3rd district in the special election following the expulsion of Republican George Santos, losing to Democrat Tom Suozzi.[5][6]
Early and personal life
Pilip was born in extreme poverty in a small village in rural Ethiopia that did not have electricity or running water, and is an Ethiopian Jew.[7][8][9][10][11] She immigrated to Israel in 1991 as a refugee when she was 12 years old, along with her family, as part of Operation Solomon.[12][11] The operation was an Israeli military operation that covertly airlifted over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in a day and a half.[11][10] She has three sisters, all of whom live in Israel, and one of whom is a detective.[13][14]
While at the University of Haifa she met her future husband, Adalbert Pilip, who had been born in Ukraine.[7] He was an American-Ukrainian-Jewish medical student from a family of Holocaust survivors who had come from the United States to Haifa to study medicine at the Technion, later becoming a cardiologist.[10][11][12]
After she and her husband married, they moved to the United States in 2005, ultimately settling in Great Neck, New York.[11][10][7] She is an Orthodox Jew, has been vice president of her synagogue (Kol Yisrael Achim), and has been active in trying to revitalize Great Neck and in pro-Israel advocacy.[12] She and her husband have seven children.[12][16]
Pilip campaigned on reviving Great Neck's downtown, and acting as a bridge among the many minority communities in the district.[12][19][20] She became the first-ever Republican from Great Neck to be elected a Nassau County Legislator.[21][22] Her priorities have also included public safety, helping businesses that struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and fighting antisemitism.[23][10][12] She is chairwoman of the Nassau County Legislature Towns, Villages & Cities Committee, and vice chairwoman of its Health & Social Services Committee.[24]
In November 2023, she won a second term as Nassau County legislator representing District 10 as a Republican (endorsed by the Conservative Party) with 60% of the vote.[25][26] She had been endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters, which cited her driving legislation transferring county land to the Great Neck Park District, approving funding for a streets initiative and water quality protection, and supporting efforts to protect the county's sole source aquifer.[27] Conservative donor and former US Ambassador to Austria Ronald Lauder was her biggest single donor during her race.[28] She dedicated her win to Israel.[26]
On December 14, 2023, a panel of Republicans from Queens and Nassau Counties selected Pilip as the Republican nominee in the special election scheduled for February 13, 2024 to succeed Santos after his expulsion.[5] The Nassau County legislative district that Pilip represented was part of the 3rd congressional district.[29] The panel chose her after considering more than 20 candidates.[30][31] Her opponent in the general election was Tom Suozzi, the district's former representative in Congress.[6]
Although Pilip held office as a Republican and has adopted traditional Republican positions on certain issues, she was a registered Democrat.[2] The campaign was largely fought on the issue of migration into the United States.[32] Pilip agreed to participate in only one debate during the campaign, after early voting had started.[33][34]
On February 13, 2024, Pilip received 46% of the vote to Suozzi's 54%.[6][35]
Political positions
Abortion
Pilip has described herself as "pro-life" while stating that "abortion is a very personal decision".[36][37] She has said that she would not support a national abortion ban.[36][37][38] However, she has refused to answer questions regarding restoring Roe v. Wade or her position on restrictions that fall short of a national ban.[39]
Pilip has made combatting rising crime rates and improving public safety a key focus of her platform, and cites it as a motivator for her campaign.[7][43]
Gun control
When an audience member during a debate asked Pilip and Tom Suozzi whether they support a ban on the type of assault weapons frequently used in mass shootings, Pilip said, "I don't see any reason why the average American or individual would have more powerful weapons than our cops" but did not answer whether she supported banning semiautomatic weapons like AR-15s.[39]
Pilip is in favor of taxes being low, and views taxes as one of the main issues for the district.[46][47][48]
Donald Trump
Regarding the multiple indictments facing Donald Trump, Pilip has said: "Trump has to go through his process" and "No one's above the law. We have great candidates right now. Trump is one of them. We'll wait and see. Whoever the nominee is, we'll support him all the way."[49][50] She added that she would not support Trump for president if he is convicted of a crime.[51]
Ukraine
Pilip is in favor of continued U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.[52][53]
