Minutes after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report on Thursday concluding there was “substantial evidence” that first-term Representative George Santos committed criminal wrongdoing, the scandal-plagued congressman said in a social media statement that he will not seek another term in 2024.
“I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed,” Santos wrote in a statement on X. “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.”
The Ethics Committee voted unanimously to refer Santos to the Justice Department, finding overwhelming evidence that Santos knowingly filed false campaign spending reports with the Federal Election Commission, engaged in fraudulent conduct with a firm called RedStone Strategies LLC, and intentionally violated the Ethics Committee’s financial-disclosure rules. The report also accused Santos of knowingly using campaign funds for personal use, including alleged expenses on Botox treatments, Sephora, and the pornography site Onlyfans.
The committee, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, said in its statement that Santos’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.” That could soon result in a renewed effort to expel Santos from the lower chamber.
Santos has already pleaded not guilty to a 23-count superseding indictment, which included felony charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and false statements. His decision to bow out of another reelection bid comes as welcome news to the handful of other freshman New York Republicans who have spent their entire first terms distancing themselves from Santos, including Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, Nick Langworthy, Marc Molinaro, and Brandon Williams. Earlier this month, those Republicans led an effort to expel Santos from Congress that failed by a 179 to 213 vote, with 19 members voting “present” — marking the second failed effort to boot him from the House to date.
“For those who are motivated by politics, protecting George Santos is short-term thinking,” LaLota told NR after that effort failed. “It’s penny-wise but pound-foolish to try to have anybody protect Santos because it will hurt more of us in the long term.”
Santos’s decision to bow out of another term puts additional pressure on Long Island Republicans to rally around a strong GOP recruit to succeed him in his blue-leaning seat in 2024.
The news comes as New York Democrats are doing everything in their power to rejigger the political odds in their favor this cycle after a crime wave and a new Republican-leaning congressional map resulted in stunning GOP gains in 2022. Earlier this week, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, heard oral arguments in a Democrat-led redistricting case that aims to redraw the state’s congressional maps ahead of 2024.