Heave-ho!
New York State Republican Party chairman Ed Cox led the charge Wednesday in calling on serial lying Long Island GOP Rep. George Santos to resign following a bombshell criminal indictment of the congressman.
“Santos should resign. He should have been gone a long time ago,” Cox told The Post minutes after the US Attorney for the Eastern District Breon Peace accused Santos of massive financial fraud.
Cox said Nassau County GOP chairman Joe Cairo was correct when he called on Santos to step down in January for repeatedly lying to voters about his biography.
He confessed many of his fibs to The Post.
If Santos refuses to resign and runs for re-election before his case is resolved next year, the Republican Party will nominate someone else in the 3rd Congressional District covering Nassau County and Eastern Queens and defeat him in the primary, Cox said.
“I have no doubt Santos will be replaced in due course with a good Republican candidate. One way or the other, he will be out of office,” the chairman said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said Santos was a disgrace and stain on the GOP before the indictment.
His exit now is inevitable.
“It is clear that George Santos cannot continue to represent the residents of the Third Congressional District, as he has been thoroughly untruthful about his biography and has fabricated stories that are blatantly untrue. He needs to go,” Blakeman said.
Other local Republicans don’t want to be on the ballot with an alleged fraudster in the 2024 presidential election year when more voters show up at the polls in swing districts like in Long Island.
One congressman issued his verdict: Santos is a crook
“As a retired NYPD detective, I am confident the justice system will fully reveal Congressman Santos’ long history of deceit and I once again call on this serial fraudster to resign from office,” said Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a first-term Republican representing the 4th Congressional District covering Nassau County neighborhoods that border Santos’ district.
But upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chairwoman, wouldn’t rush to judgment. The GOP has a razor-thin majority and may need his vote on some legislation.
“This legal process is going to play itself out,” Stefanik told reporters at a press conference.
Three Democrats have emerged to run for Santos’ seat: Nassau County legislator Josh Lafazan, St. John University law professor William Murphy and former state Sen. Anna Kaplan.
A Republican candidate has not yet emerged to take on the wounded Santos.
Santos filed paperwork in March to seek re-election.
An indicted congress member running for re-election — and even winning — is not without precedent.
Former Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm easily won re-election in 2014 despite facing tax fraud charges. But just weeks after the re-election, he pled guilty to tax evasion and forfeited the seat.