‘Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish’ to Protect George Santos from Expulsion, Moderate New York Republicans Say

The House handily rejected on Wednesday a Republican-led effort to expel Representative George Santos from the U.S. House, with many Democrats and Republicans who voted against the measure citing an ongoing ethics investigation and due-process concerns nearly a year before the embattled Republican’s criminal trial is tentatively scheduled to begin.

Lurking in the background for many House Republicans who voted no, of course, is the political reality that the party’s slim majority often requires Santos’s vote to pass legislation; kicking him out of the House would trigger a special election in his already blue-leaning Long Island district. The GOP-led House Ethics Committee gave some Republicans an excuse to vote against the resolution by announcing that it will announce its findings on or before November 17.

The New York Republicans who spearheaded Wednesday’s failed effort to boot Santos from the House have already vowed to propose another expulsion resolution after the Ethics Committee publishes its findings.

“For those who are motivated by politics, protecting George Santos is short-term thinking,” first-term Representative Nick LaLota (R., N.Y.) told National Review at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday afternoon. 

Only five members of the House have been expelled in U.S. history. But Empire State Republicans’ disdain for Santos runs deep. After riding New York’s favorable redistricting and recent crime wave to victory in the 2022 midterm elections, LaLota and his Biden-district Republican colleagues have spent their entire first terms in office fending off House Democratic efforts to tie them to their scandal-embroiled colleague.

Santos represents just one of the many political headwinds these Republicans are expected to face in 2024, a presidential-election year when Empire State Democrats are hoping to redraw the state’s congressional maps.

“If we, the New Yorkers — me, [Anthony] D’Esposito, [Mike] Lawler, [Marc] Molinaro, [Brandon] Williams, [Nick] Langworthy — if we do the right thing on Santos, we think voters will reward us politically,” LaLota said. “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.”

Wednesday’s privileged resolution needed two-thirds of the House’s support to pass. It failed handily by a 179 to 213 vote, with 19 members voting “Present.” Thirty-one Democrats voted against Wednesday’s GOP-led measure, many of them arguing that Santos is entitled to due process and that expelling him before he is convicted, and even before his trial begins in September 2024, sets an unhealthy precedent. Wednesday’s failed expulsion effort comes roughly six months after House GOP leaders helped kill a similar Democratic effort to expel Santos.

Last month, a superseding federal indictment hit Santos with a handful of new felony counts, which include charges of wire fraud, false statements, money-laundering, and identity theft. Santos has pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts.

First-term congressman Anthony D’Esposito, who introduced Wednesday’s expulsion resolution and represents Santos’s neighboring Long Island district, says kicking out Santos is worth the political risk of a special election.

“In Nassau County, we have a very strong Republican organization,” D’Esposito told National Review on Thursday. “If there’s anywhere in this country where we can win a special election in a district like that, Nassau County is one of them.”