Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. After my absolute favorite drag queen and congressman George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives in December, I figured I wouldn’t have to write about him ever again. But the oh-so-kind and compassionate Santos took a sledgehammer to my plans by announcing during the State of the Union two weeks ago that he’s running for Congress this year. To top it off, he’s jumping ship from his old district, New York’s 3rd District, to run in the 1st District, which just so happens to be the district that I call home.
Excuse me while I punch through some drywall.
Now that my wall is full of holes, let’s break down Santos’ attempt at a comeback bid. My first reaction to his announcement that he posted to X made me wonder if he could legally run again. Even though he was expelled from the House, which I believe should automatically disqualify him from running again, there is nothing that legally prevents Santos from running again, as he still meets the constitutional requirements for serving as a representative. Santos is also not the first expelled representative to attempt a comeback run. James Traficant, a representative from Ohio, was expelled from the House in July 2002 due to racketeering charges and then ran as an independent that November. Not only did Traficant run for his old seat after being expelled, but he was in prison at the time. So despite an upcoming federal court trial in September and a cartoonishly long list of legal issues and scandals, none of these block Santos from running again.
When Santos made his initial X post about running again, he made sure to attack his challenger, incumbent Republican Nick LaLota. Santos has continuously branded LaLota as a “RINO” and someone who is out of touch with Republican voters. But let’s be real here: The real reason that Santos has gone after LaLota so much is that he led the charge to expel Santos, calling him a “lying fraudster” and saying that “the House will be better off when he is behind bars.” Santos has continuously shown himself to have a level of pettiness rivaled only by former SNL host Donald Trump and is clearly only running out of spite.
But on Friday, March 22, Santos took to X with a post declaring that he would be leaving the Republican Party and running as an independent. He proudly proclaimed that he “cannot affiliate [him]self with a party that stands for nothing and falls for everything.” To call this only ironic would be the understatement of the century. Santos only became a congressman by standing for absolutely nothing and tricking the voters of Nassau County and Queens into believing his lies. He has benefited more than anybody from the gullibility of Republican voters to believe anything they hear from the Fox News outrage machine. And while he is correct in pointing out how poorly run the GOP is today, he has no right to act like he’s standing on moral high ground when he’s one of the most immoral and dishonest politicians of my lifetime.
So now that he’s running as an independent, what does that mean for the election in November? Simply put, I find it hard to picture a Santos victory. Winning as an independent is hard enough, but his negative reputation and legal issues certainly don’t do him any favors. His voter base will likely be made up of Republicans who think that LaLota isn’t MAGA enough to represent them. If Santos is able to pull enough support away from LaLota, it could split the Republican vote enough that results in a Democratic victory. And as a resident of New York’s 1st District, I can tell you from experience that there will be plenty of delusional voters who will easily fall for Santos’ nonsense and lies yet again. This would be a major loss for House Republicans, who are already in shambles trying to keep their fragile and erratic majority together. He’d be derided as a spoiler candidate, but knowing his spiteful ways, seeing LaLota lose would be a victory for him.
What aggravates me the most about Santos running again is that he is acting like he has committed no wrongdoing and was merely the victim of a “woke witch hunt” or whatever Republicans are calling it today. His insistence of innocence and continuous attacks on anyone who says otherwise shows that he’s an arrogant, power-hungry politician who cares more about the limelight than actually representing the people of Long Island. Though I do firmly believe that Santos won’t come close to returning to Congress, he’ll still be his usual arrogant self as he tries to maintain his political relevance in any way he can. I’d much rather watch him on “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” than watch him parade around the east end of Long Island begging for votes acting like he cares at all about local residents like myself.