The future of George Santos’ Congressional career isn’t looking bright.
A recent report from Axios cited a House GOP source who expected some 180 votes from members of the party in the chamber in favor of removing Santos. The New York Republican was exposed as a serial liar around the time he was first taking his Congressional seat earlier this year, and it’s gone downhill from there. Most recently, he was the subject of a report by the House Ethics Committee accusing him of egregious misuse of campaign money on personal expenses like OnlyFans, an adult content-oriented subscriptions service.
He is also criminally charged with wire fraud, money laundering, identity theft, lying to both the Federal Election Commission and the House, and more.
“One House Republican predicted to Axios that all but a few dozen Republicans will vote to expel Santos — putting the number around 180,” Axios said. The House is slated to reconvene on Tuesday following a holiday break, and there are evidently multiple initiatives for Santos’ expulsion that could force his exit, a move only undertaken a small number of times throughout the House’s history. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), a southern California mayor-turned-member of the House Oversight Committee, expressed intentions to force a vote on his expulsion move against Santos this week. A procedural step called bringing forth a privileged resolution allows individual Congresspeople to, generally speaking, compel a vote.
Santos doesn’t have an extensive base of support among his prospective voters, either. Polling done by Marist this very month found that three-quarters of his home state, meaning New York, wanted his resignation, an off-ramp that Santos has consistently refused. He won his seat after a Democratic stint representing it, so his departure could ultimately mean a pick-up for Democrats should there be an electoral swing in line with that semi-recent history in that area of Long Island and NYC.
