Disgraced Ex-GOP Rep. George Santos Ends Independent Congressional Campaign After Raising $0 In Donations

On Tuesday, former New York Rep. George Santos (R-New York) announced that he had terminated his independent campaign for a congressional seat.

Santos, expelled from the House last year, had expressed his intention to run as an independent candidate for New York’s First Congressional District just last month.

A recent campaign filing showed that he had raised $0 in the first quarter.

In a statement released on X, Santos explained his withdrawal. He cited concerns over potential vote-splitting with Rep. Nick LaLota (R-New York), which could ultimately result in the Democrats securing the seat. LaLota was among the Republicans who voted to expel Santos in December after the revelation of federal criminal charges against him. Santos pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges and is scheduled to trial in September.

Before his expulsion from Congress, Santos represented New York’s 3rd District. Initially, in March, he had declared his candidacy as a Republican and emphasized the need for a genuine conservative representative for New York since his departure. Santos singled out LaLota as an example of an ineffectual “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) politician. 

However, two weeks later, he changed his decision and announced his intention to run as an independent. Santos attributed the decision to his dissatisfaction with the Republican-led House’s passage of a $1.2 trillion spending bill, which occurred mere hours before a government shutdown deadline and was viewed by Santos as an “embarrassing” move.

Santos was reluctant to split the ticket and assume responsibility for facilitating a Democratic majority in the House. Like the Terminator, he concluded his message with, “I’ll be back.”

Santos became just the sixth member of Congress to be expelled after an ethics report from the House that presented significant evidence of his violation of federal criminal laws. The report alleged that Santos misappropriated campaign funds for personal luxuries, such as Botox treatments and payments to “content creators.” Santos has consistently denied these allegations.

Since he departed from Congress, Santos has remained active on various social media platforms. He has also worked with the online platform Cameo, where he receives compensation for creating short, personalized video messages. He filed a lawsuit against late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, in which he accused him of fraud and copyright infringement. Santos claims that Kimmel employed fictitious identities to request videos, which were subsequently featured on his show.