Rep. George Santos (R-NY) looks on as the House of Representatives conducts a vote on a new Speaker of the House at the US Capitol on October 18, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted in a bid to expel embattled Republican Rep. George Santos of New York for his campaign lies and criminal charges.
The resolution to expel Santos from Congress, presented by a group of his fellow New York Republicans, failed by a 179-213 vote, with 19 members voting..
Thirty-one Democrats joined 182 Republicans in opposing the resolution, while 24 GOP members joined 155 Democrats to support it.
It requires the support of two-thirds of the room to pass.
Santos, 35, has faced bipartisan calls for his resignation since before he was sworn into Congress in January. He admitted to lying about his work history and education during his campaign, and his short time in Congress was marked by a series of scandals — including his criminal indictment.
Last week, he appeared in court for a second time to plead not guilty to a raft of federal fraud and theft charges. He promised not to resign voluntarily.
While few of his House GOP colleagues have come to his defense, some have signaled that they don’t want to fire one of their members in a conference already clinging to a razor-thin and deeply fractured majority.
“We have no margin for error,” newly anointed House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in an interview with Fox News last week. “And so, George Santos is due process, right?”
Other Republicans pointed to Tuesday’s statement by the House Ethics Committee, which revealed that its investigation into Santos is nearing completion and is scheduling an announcement on its “next action in this matter” for November 17.
The group that brought the expulsion resolution, led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, RN.Y., advocated the expulsion of Santos as a moral imperative.
“Plain and simple — this is a question of right and wrong,” those lawmakers wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter reported Wednesday by NBC News and other outlets.
Some polls showed that even before his indictment, a majority of voters in Santos’ Long Island congressional district — including Republican voters — wanted him out of office.
Santos remains a candidate for re-election in 2024. He has rejected calls for his resignation on several occasions, including in on the eve of his latest arraignment in federal court on a new batch of criminal fraud charges.
Santos faces 23 felony counts of crimes including wire fraud, credit card fraud, aggravated identity theft and falsifying records.
His criminal trial is scheduled for mid-September 2024, less than two months before Election Day.
