At long last, Rep George Santos (R-NY) is now the former and disgraced Representative from New York:
- The House voted Friday to expel indicted New York GOP Rep. George Santos over ethics violations, making him only the sixth lawmaker ever to be ousted from the chamber. The resolution passed 311 to 114, with 105 Republicans voting in favor of expulsion. All four top House GOP leaders voted to keep Santos in Congress.
- The embattled former lawmaker survived previous attempts to remove him, but there was growing momentum for this effort in the wake of a scathing ethics report, which concluded he sought to exploit his House candidacy for personal profit. Santos announced he wouldn’t seek reelection after the report, but refused to resign. [CNN/Politics]
Notably, the expulsion is the work of fellow New York Republican Representatives, which they’ve pursued for some months. Much like a hypothetical Tuberville expulsion, Santos’ expulsion works in favor of the Republicans, even if it is a substantial hit to their majority in the House, because it’s a virtue signal: the Republicans, who’ve been acting like dirtbags for years now, do have limits.
That’ll reassure some independent and moderate Republican voters.
But will it be enough to tilt the power balance? I think the Santos/Trump association was, and is, inconsequential; Trump vs Biden result remains a matter between them, with Trump’s dementia and lean towards autocracy against the perception, false or not, that Biden is doddering and incompetent to manage the economy.
And retaining the House? I might have given them a chance to do so if the abortion issue didn’t exist, but it does, and I think that’s the primary issue of the next election. Santos’ seat probably flips to the Democrats, as do a bunch of swing districts plus a few “safe” districts sacrificed, much to the Republicans’ surprise, on the altar of anti-abortionism.
So it’s good to see the political world reject the crass mendacity of Santos, but I do not think it’s nearly enough for the Republicans to somehow make any gains at the Federal level.
