Three months after former Rep. George Santos’ colleagues expelled him for a staggering array of alleged crimes and ethical violations, he has apparently decided that man cannot live by Cameo alone—and he wants his job back.
At least, Santos is officially running for Congress again, allowing him to raise money from the public and, potentially, spend it on his legal defense.
Santos—an admitted liar who is currently indicted on 23 federal counts, including unemployment fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, stealing from his own campaign donors, and lying to Congress—timed his announcement for maximum disruption: In the middle of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
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Santos’ announcement was, remarkably, not without precedent. The other two members who have been expelled since the Civil War—both Democrats—went on to serve prison terms. Former Rep. James Trafficant, however, ran for Congress from his cell as an independent, losing to his former aide, Rep. Tim Ryan.
In fact, Santos wouldn’t even be tied for this ignominious record, because Trafficant made another stab at his old seat in 2010, losing again to Ryan. The other expelled member, former Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers, recidivated, pleading guilty in 2022 to election fraud for stuffing ballots for Democrats in Pennsylvania between 2014 and 2018. He’s currently serving out the tail end of a 30-month prison sentence.
Still, the announcement caught many of Santos’ former colleagues by surprise—though it was in keeping with his well-established pattern of false statements: He had previously claimed that he would not be running for re-election in his New York House seat.
“I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed,” Santos said in a social media statement following the release of the Ethics Committee report last November. “I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.”
His official paperwork, filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night—minutes after a wave of “scam PACs” submitted expense reports—shows that the impudent fraudster is also switching districts, going from New York’s 3rd to New York’s 1st. He opened a new campaign committee—simply called “Santos for Congress”—rather than repurposing his old campaign, “Devolder-Santos for Congress,” which is still carrying unpaid debts.
The move to New York’s 1st District will pit him against incumbent GOP Rep. Nick LaLota—one of Santos’ chief antagonists, who in October filed a motion to expel him.
Santos was, of course, eventually dismissed, following the release of a House Ethics Committee report in November detailing a wide range of alleged criminal and unethical behavior. His old seat is now held by Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who won a special election last month.
For his part, Santos has since embraced a side gig selling personalized videos, generating potentially his first genuine six-figure income in a matter of weeks.
But on Thursday night, Santos took advantage of his former member privileges to attend the State of the Union. Sporting a silver-spangled dress collar and shoes to match, he spent much of his time on the floor ahead of the speech attempting to yuk it up with his former colleagues.
Santos could be seen chatting with fellow embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), as well as Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Tim Burchett (R-TN). He even appeared to pose for a selfie with Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT).
“Clownshow,” one GOP member said of Santos being at the State of the Union. “Him keeping his privileges was an oversight that may soon be corrected.”
Santos posted a social media statement shortly after his official paperwork was submitted, claiming that he has “made several personal sacrifices in the name of serving the American people” lifting a phrase from defeated GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.
“My promise is that I will never back down because of my love for this country,” Santos wrote, claiming that he “left office arbitrarily” due to pressure from his former GOP colleagues in New York—chiefly targeting his primary opponent, LaLota.
Santos said he came to his decision following “a lot of prayer and conversation with my friends and family,” and hopes the move “will shake things up.”
One of Santos’ former New York colleagues, Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY)—who helped lead the effort to oust Santos—laughed when asked what he thought of the disgraced former vongressman’s appearance at the vaunted address.
Then, upon first learning of the news, five New York Republicans—Reps. Nick Langworthy, Nick LaLota, Anthony DeEsposito, Mike Lawler, and Molinaro—audibly laughed while the State of the Union was going on. When another GOP member was told Santos was running, they offered a short response: “From jail?”
Santos’ criminal trial is scheduled for September, meaning that, should he pull off a miracle in the primary, Santos, like Donald Trump, may face the daunting task of convincing voters to cast their ballot for a convicted, and potentially prison-bound, felon.
Santos has pleaded not guilty to the charges, denies wrongdoing, and has emitted only narrow expressions of remorse.
But Santos—who lied repeatedly to his previous constituents, including about basic biographical facts—faces an uphill battle there, though his candidacy might be about something else entirely.
If Santos is indeed modeling his bid after Trump, he could theoretically raise money from the public and use it to help offset his legal bills. Of course, his old campaign committee must also pay down its still outstanding legal debt of roughly $70,000, along with obligations to former campaign staffers, an Italian restaurant with sketchy family ties, and a direct mail company currently at the center of a separate congressional ethics scandal involving Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV).
His old campaign’s year-end report, filed at the end of January, showed roughly $11,400 in donations. A number of contributions rolled in after his expulsion, including from a donor group that The Daily Beast previously tied to the indicted Chinese right-wing financier Guo Wengui.
Regardless of how long Santos’ campaign lasts, his fundraising and spending will draw some of the heaviest scrutiny in the country. His candidacy statement shows that this unenviable job will fall to his most recent treasurer, whose work for Santos was never flagged by federal regulators.
Santos’ former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, entered into a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors last October, pleading guilty to collaborating with her former client to file false FEC reports in an attempt to inflate his fundraising and cover up fake donations. Last week, Marks asked the court to delay her sentencing until November—after the Santos trial, and after the general election.
Reese Gorman contributed to this report.
