Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is still enraged that his fellow New York GOP lawmakers voted to expel him from Congress. And he's got a revenge scheme cooking against one of them, Long Island-based Rep. Frank LaLota — but LaLota isn't losing any sleep over it.
On Friday, Santos announced on X that he is abandoning his campaign to run again for the seat he was booted from, and will instead be jumping ship to run in LaLota's district — as an independent.
"The Republican Party continues to lie and swindle its voter base. I in good conscience cannot affiliate myself with a party that stands for nothing and falls for everything," he wrote. "I will take my Ultra MAGA/Trump supporting values to the ballot in November as an Independent." His apparent idea is to peel off enough votes from LaLota that it could allow his Democratic opponent, former CNN reporter John Avlon, to knock him off.
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LaLota, who represents a competitive but right-leaning district that was just made slightly more Republican in a new statewide redistricting scheme passed by the Democratic legislature, doesn't appear at all threatened by Santos' plan to come after him.
According to Axios, he responded by telling reporters, "Santos can watch me defend this important swing district and the November election results from his prison cell."
After he was elected to New York's 3rd District in an upset in the 2022 midterm elections, Santos was dogged with explosive reporting that he had lied about almost every aspect of his personal background, credentials, and even about having Jewish ancestry. He was subsequently indicted on federal charges for allegedly defrauding campaign donors and unemployment funds, and several Republicans joined Democrats to expel him following a blistering report by the House Ethics Committee detailing a pattern of misconduct, lies, and obstruction.
In December, reports indicated that Santos was in plea negotiations with prosecutors to avoid trial, but as of now, nothing appears to have been worked out.
