Former representative of New York. George Santos He announced on Tuesday that he was ending his independent campaign for the seat In Congress.
Santos, a Republican who was expelled from the House late last year, announced last month that he is running as an independent candidate for New York’s First Congressional District.
“I decided to give up my independent candidacy #NY1“,” In a statement on X, Santos said he was concerned that his candidacy could split votes with GOP Rep. Nick LaLota and hand the seat to Democrats.
LaLota is one of the Republicans who voted chase away Santos among federal criminal charges in December. Santos begged not guilty will be arraigned on fraud charges and will appear in court in September.
Santos originally represented New York’s 3rd District before being suspended from Congress announced ran as a Republican in March, claiming that “since I left office on my own because of the RINOs, there hasn’t been a true conservative representing them in New York. [LaLota].”
Two weeks later, he announced that he would run as an independent. Santos said he made the switch because of the Republican-led House Voted to pass the $1.2 trillion spending bill hours before the government shutdown deadline, calling the move “shameful.”
“I don’t want to split the ticket and be responsible for delivering the house,” he wrote to Democrats on Tuesday. “I’ll be back,” he added.
Santos became only the sixth member of Congress to be expelled since the House of Representatives ethical reporting It concluded that there was “substantial evidence” that Santos had “violated federal criminal laws.” It was alleged that he spent campaign funds on luxury goods, Botox and OnlyFans payments. Santos denied the allegations.
Since leaving Congress, Santos has been active on social media and the Cameo platform, where he gets paid for short, personalized video messages. He also sued late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel accused him of fraud and copyright infringement for allegedly using fake names to solicit videos that Kimmel played on his show.