A total of 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting to keep Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in Congress, killing a Republican-led effort to oust the embattled lawmaker.
The lower chamber on Wednesday voted 179-213-19 on a resolution to expel Santos, marking the second unsuccessful attempt this year to eject the first-term lawmaker from the House. A two-thirds threshold is needed to expel a member of Congress.
A total of 31 Democrats and 182 Republicans voted against the resolution, while 24 Republicans and 155 Democrats voted to expel Santos.
The effort to oust Santos was spearheaded by a group of freshman New York Republicans — led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito — who moved last week to force a vote to expel Santos in the wake of his mounting legal battles. D’Esposito called the legislation to the floor as a privileged resolution, a procedural gambit that forces leadership to set a vote within two legislative days.
Santos faces a total of 23 federal charges ahead of his trial, slated to begin in September 2024.
He pled not guilty last week to a set of 10 new criminal charges in a superseding indictment alleging he inflated his campaign finance reports and charged his donors’ credit cards without authorization.
In May, he was charged on 13 counts of misleading donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits and lying on House financial disclosures.
Santos admitted earlier this year to embellishing parts of his background while campaigning, but he has reiterated he will not resign despite his legal troubles.
Here are the 31 Democratic House members who voted to keep Santos in Congress:
Rep. Collin Allred (Texas)
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (Mass.)
Rep. Ed Case (Hawaii)
Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (Mo.)
Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas)
Rep. Sharice Davids (Kan.)
Rep. Chris Deluzio (Penn.)
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (Texas)
Rep. Jared Golden (Maine)
Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.)
Rep. Steven Horsford (Nev.)
Rep. Jeff Jackson (N.C.)
Rep. Hank Johnson (Ga.)
Rep. Rick Larsen (Wash.)
Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.)
Rep. Seth Magaziner (R.I.)
Rep. Morgan McGarvey (Ky.)
Rep. Rob Menendez (N.J.)
Rep. Gwen Moore (Wis.)
Rep. Marie Perez (Wash.)
Rep. Katie Porter (Calif.)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.)
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.)
Rep. Brad Schneider (Ill.)
Rep. Kim Schrier (Wash.)
Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.)
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)
Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.)
Rep. Nikema Williams (Ga.)
Mychael Schnell contributed.
They’re just waiting on a report from the Committee on Ethics (like they probably should). I know Santos’ guilt seems obvious but that can’t be the standard; Joe Biden’s guilt on every crime ever conceived “seems obvious” to the MAGA insurrectionists in our government. The Committee on Ethics says we should hear from them within the next two weeks.
That makes more sense. Thanks for pointing it out. I was wondering why Dems would want to keep a controversial republican in the house.
It’s a fair point, but GOP members will never , not for a second, be bound by a standard like that just because some Democrats hold themselves to it.
It’s nice to see a sane explanation at the top of a post like this.
If Santos’s guilt is only obvious to his political opposition then the vote would fail on its own with no help needed from Democrats (2/3rds threshold). Democrats aren’t going to get kicked out of office because MAGAs are crazy.
Santos’s complete lack of ethics isn’t some big question that needs a thorough investigation to objectively consider. He just straight up lied about his life, with no real excuse or counter. This idea that only a special report could possibly confirm someone shouldn’t be a representative is just standard congressional cowardice.