On Thursday night, former Representative George Santos declared his intention to run in the first Congressional District of New York, taking on a Republican opponent who had voted to remove him from Congress.
Rep. Nick LaLota is the current representative that Santos stated on X: “Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1.”
George Santos said that “New York hasn’t had a real conservative represent them since I left office arbitrarily, thanks to RINO, empty suits like [LaLota].”
“I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican,” he said.
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech, a tweet was tweeted.
“I wasn’t aware he was doing that,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise responded to an NBC News question on Santos’ remark.
Soon after the announcement, LaLota made the following statement in a fundraising post: “I led the charge to expel George Santos in order to raise the standard in Congress and to hold a pathological liar who stole an election accountable.”Count myself in if defeating him in a primary is necessary to complete the task.”
George Santos, who is situated in Long Island and Queens, was chosen in 2022 to represent New York’s 3rd district. Santos was a member of a group of New York Republican lawmakers that were crucial in assisting the GOP in gaining a majority in the House. These lawmakers were elected in areas that Biden had just won two years before.
LaLota and Rep. Mike Lawler, among the other members, were particularly loud in their attempts to remove Santos from office after revelations that he had falsified several aspects of his résumé, such as his job history, college degree, and self-identification as “Jewish.”
According to a House ethics investigation published in November, George Santos paid OnlyFans, Botox, and luxury products using campaign money. Santos disputes these accusations, and after the publication of the study, he said he would not seek public office once again while refusing to resign.
A few weeks later, 311 Republicans voted in support of his expulsion from the House, which was decided 311–114. He was the only congressman to be ejected without being found guilty of a crime or for having aided the Confederacy, making him the sixth congressman to be expelled in history.
George Santos has been active on social media and the Cameo platform, where he receives payment for brief, customized videos, since leaving Congress. He has filed a lawsuit against Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night presenter, alleging that he used false identities to request videos that Kimmel showed on his program, in violation of copyright and for fraud.
Santos is being prosecuted on 23 federal counts for offenses ranging from campaign finance fraud to identity theft. To every charge, he has entered a not guilty plea.
June 25 is when the primary election will take place.
SOURCE: NBC NEWS
