FORMER Congressman George Santos has ended his 2024 campaign to rejoin the House as an independent representative.
Santos announced his run for New York’s 1st Congressional District last month.
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“I have decided to withdraw from my independent run for #NY1,” Santos said in a post on X.
He said the decision came down to bigger-picture strategy and what was better for the party.
“I don’t want my run to be portrayed as reprisal against Nick Lalota,” he said about his competitor, the current Republican representative from New York’s 1st congressional district.
And he said he pulled out of the race to avoid handing a victory to Democrats. He ran as an Independent.
“Staying in this race all but guarantees a victory for the Dems in the race,” he said.
He ended his message by saying, “It’s only goodbye for now, I’ll be back.”
Santos was elected as a member of the GOP to represent New York’s 3rd District in 2022.
He was removed from Congress by December 2023 — the first Republican to ever be expelled from the chamber — over serial lying allegations.
A House Ethics Committee investigation found that Santos fabricated links to the Holocaust, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando during his short tenure in office.
Investigators worked for nine months and produced a 56-page report detailing “substantial evidence” that Santos used campaign funds for personal purposes.
“George Santos is a liar — in fact, he has admitted to many of them – who has used his position of public trust to personally benefit himself from Day 1,” Republican Representative Anthony D’Esposito said at the time.
Over 300 of his colleagues voted for his expulsion, including 105 Republican peers.
A CHANGE OF TUNE
Santos switched parties earlier this year, shortly after being pushed out of Congress.
He claimed that the decision was due to the Republican Party’s support of the $1.2 trillion spending package that passed in March to fund the government through September.
“After today’s embarrassing showing in the house I have reflected and decided that I can no longer be part of the Republican Party,” Santos said.
“The Republican Party continues to lie and swindle its voter base. I in good conscience cannot affiliate myself with a party that stands for nothing and falls for everything.”
The future holds countless possibilities and I am ready willing and able to step up to the plate and go fight for my country at anytime.
George Santos
He had stricken the GOP title from his pending candidature application, he announced.
“I am officially suspending my petitioning in #NY01 to access the ballot as a Republican.”
And said he had decided to become an Independent.
“I will take my Ultra MAGA/Trump supporting values to the ballot in November as an Independent,” he said.
Why was Santos expelled from Congress?
Former congressman George Santos was the first Republican to ever be expelled from the House — why?
Santos made history for the Republican party during his short tenure as the US representative for New York’s 3rd congressional district.
In January, he was the first openly gay Republican to be elected to Congress, and, less than a year later, was the first party member to be expelled from the House.
Soon after being elected, news outlets began reporting inconsistencies in the stories he told on the campaign trail.
Santos allegedly lied about his education, work experience, property ownership, ethnicity, and religion, among other things.
In May 2023, he was indicted on 12 criminal charges, including counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds, and the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation.
According to the committee, Santos allegedly used donor money to fund purchases at Hermes and OnlyFans, lied to collect unemployment, and falsely claimed he worked at Wall Street and was a volleyball star at a college he never attended.
He’s also been accused of fabricating associations with the Holocaust, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
Santos has admitted to lying about some of his history but still pleaded not guilty to the 23 fraud-related charges he is now facing.
‘GOODBYE FOR NOW’
The 35-year-old stayed positive about the state of the country in his concession announcement on Tuesday.
“The future holds countless possibilities and I am ready willing and able to step up to the plate and go fight for my country at anytime,” he wrote.
And despite the loss in this election season, Santos said he was not done with politics.
“I will continue to participate in the public policy discussion and will do my part… I will always strive to stand on the right side of history,” he said.
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