The House voted on Friday to oust Rep. George Santos, making him the sixth lawmaker in history to be expelled from the lower chamber.
This unprecedented move, which hadn’t been seen in the last 20 years, required support from a substantial number of representatives from both parties to meet the two-thirds threshold for expelling a member in office. The final vote reached 311-114-2, with 105 Republicans joining almost all Democrats in removing Santos, who had only served for 11 months. This expulsion sheds light on the underlying tensions within the Republican conference and highlights the negative perception of Santos among many of his GOP colleagues.
Once regarded as a trailblazer for the party, Santos is now facing federal indictment on 23 counts, including wire fraud, identity theft, and campaign finance charges. Many Republicans viewed him as a liability, tarnishing the party’s image in an important election cycle as they vie for control of the House.
However, Santos’s expulsion poses immediate challenges for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team, as it narrows their already razor-thin House majority.
This divisive situation within the GOP was evident on Friday when 112 Republicans supported Santos, amply warning about the potential consequences of removing an elected official without a criminal conviction and the precedent it could set for politically motivated expulsions in the future.
Despite Johnson’s attempt to distance himself from the internal dispute and allow members to vote according to their conscience, he expressed concerns about removing Santos before his criminal cases reached a conclusion. This warning, however, was disregarded by the majority of Republicans supporting expulsion.
The months-long campaign to hold the freshman congressman accountable began after his fabricated biography on the campaign trail was exposed and gained further momentum following his criminal indictments.