As candidates around the country kick their campaigns into high gear with control of the House of Representatives on the line in November, the Republican candidate running to replace ex-Rep. George Santos has largely kept a low profile ahead of next month’s special election.

The race to replace Santos in the February election is being watched as an early test for both parties in a district President Joe Biden won in 2020 by eight points, but where Republicans have made major gains in local elections in 2022 and 2023. The winner also stands to affect the near-term balance of power in the U.S. Congress where Republicans are clinging to a razor-thin majority.

While Democrat Tom Suozzi is traversing New York’s 3rd Congressional District to bolster support from the voters he used to represent in Congress, Republican candidate Mazi Pilip has kept her schedule largely under wraps, appearing at events with party officials, avoiding her opponent, and undecided voters, on the campaign trail.

Pilip’s low public profile is proving fodder for Suozzi’s campaign, which is chiding her for “ducking” candidate forums and debates, including one Wednesday morning held by several chambers of commerce on Long Island. Pilip’s campaign said she plans to appear with New York City Councilmember Vickie Paladino at the American Legion Hall in Whitestone, Queens, later in the day.

Her campaign maintains that the Nassau County legislator is running hard, but her lack of visibility in the district — which spans from eastern Queens through the north shore of Long Island — is leading to head-scratching and frustration among some voters who are determined to get to know the candidates before the special election, especially following the scandals that plagued Santos over his ever-evolving and fictitious background.

Doug Mittler, 63, a sports statistician in New Hyde Park, attended what was initially supposed to be a debate between Suozzi and Pilip organized by the Lakeville Estates Civic Association. It turned into a meet and greet when only Suozzi showed.

Mittler described himself as a “highly disenchanted” Republican party-line voter, who was still deciding who to support in the upcoming special election.

He said the ongoing migrant crisis and local landlord and tenant issues were among his top concerns, but “quite honestly” wasn’t sure where Pilip stood on the issues “because she’s not been here,” Mittler said.

The association’s president, Bill Cutrone, said he invited both candidates last month to a debate in front of his organization, which he says is the largest civic association on Long Island with 1,300 annual paid members representing some 1,800 homes and businesses.

“We decided that this was a very important issue for the residents of the 3rd Congressional District because in the last year and a half, we have not really had a congressperson representing our area,” said Cutrone.

Cutrone said he’s looking for a federal representative who can help restore mobile health services for veterans that stopped during the pandemic.

Initially, staff for both Pilip and Suozzi agreed to the event scheduled for last Thursday night. But as the date approached, Pilip’s campaign told Cutrone that she could not attend. The campaign told Cutrone there had been a scheduling snafu since he reached out to her government office and not the campaign. She had a fundraiser scheduled for that night.

“If he did reach out, the person did not have the right to agree to it. It was not appropriate. It’s not the same calendar,” campaign spokesperson Brian Devine told Gothamist.

Still, Devine insisted that Pilip is campaigning hard across the district.

“She’s all over the place,” he told Gothamist, pointing to a recent interview with Spectrum NY1 that aired Friday and social media posts on X that showed her at private events, including one last week at the Milleridge Cottage in Jericho and at a Nassau County GOP kick off event on Sunday at the Long Island Marriott.