Although he won't take office for a few weeks, Congressman-elect Tom Suozzi is offering advice to lawmakers in Washington on how to end gridlock and win back voters.

Suozzi called himself a new kind of old-school Democrat during his successful campaign for Congress. Now as he prepares to head to Washington, the soon-to-be representative from Glen Cove is urging his fellow Democrats to find religion.

"It's not about any one religion, but we have to start respecting the fact that people take their religion and their faith very serious, and lets start talking about that more and figuring out how to get common ground," says Suozzi.

The incoming Congressman's advice comes in the wake of a presidential election in which President-elect Donald Trump won victories in classic Democratic strongholds like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Republicans are set to enjoy more federal power than they've had since the 1920s.

The Hill newspaper, which covers Washington's politics, published an op-ed written by Suozzi, in which he lays out a new course for a Democratic party still reeling from defeat. Suozzi writes "Democrats have a cultural problem. People that have a faith based value system either don't vote for us, or they do, but have reservations."

Suozzi says Democrats shouldn't just embrace religion, they should also do so to reach across the aisle, and maybe even break through some of that infamous Washington gridlock.

"It's about basic fundamental concepts that are often faith based, like love thy neighbor that we all agree on" says Suozzi.