In a momentous decision, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday morning to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York, marking a rare and significant event in congressional history. Since his election, Santos, embroiled in a series of controversies and caught in a seemingly endless web of lies, becomes the sixth member to be expelled from the House.
The expulsion follows a detailed investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which uncovered extensive evidence of alleged misconduct, including campaign finance violations and misrepresentation of Santos’ background. The report laid bare a series of ethical breaches and set the stage for Friday’s decisive vote.
Related: Watch George Santos Be Defiant and Dramatic as He Faces Another House Expulsion Vote
With 311 votes in favor and 114 opposed to his ouster, Santos’s fate was sealed.
The vote, conducted in a charged atmosphere in the Capitol, required a two-thirds majority to pass. The outcome indicates a bipartisan agreement on Santos’ unfitness to serve in the House of Representatives.
Santos had faced growing pressure from both sides of the aisle and has been intensely scrutinized over the past months. The New York representative has been accused of fabricating significant parts of his resume and personal history and misusing campaign funds for personal expenses — including for luxury goods and even OnlyFans subscriptions.
The decision is expected to have profound implications for the political climate, particularly for the Republican Party, which has faced internal division over handling the Santos controversy.
Related: George Santos Complains That He’s Being Bullied Out of Congress, Announces Own Expulsion Motion
As the news broke, reactions began pouring in from various political figures and constituents, reflecting the wide range of public opinion on this issue.
Gay Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who has been pushing for Santos’s expulsion for months expressed his satisfaction on X, formerly Twitter.
“We did it. We expelled George Santos,” he wrote.
Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf celebrated the gay Republican’s removal.
“Good riddance to George Santos, whose expulsion on the heels of a damning ethics committee report was necessary,” said the Pulse nightclub survivor. “His abhorrent anti-LGBTQ+ voting record, likely criminal behavior, and seeming inability to tell the truth, including falsely claiming to have lost employees in the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting, made it clear that he had no business serving in Congress. Santos is a symptom of the lack of honesty, extremism, and dysfunction that is the current House GOP in the era of Donald Trump. Character matters, and the American people deserve serious leaders with integrity.”
Santos has not yet made a public statement regarding the expulsion. Immediately after the vote the former congressman walked through a scrum of press without commenting on the day’s events.
The future of the now-vacant congressional seat will be determined by a special election, as per New York State law.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she intends to schedule a special election on X.
“I am prepared to undertake the solemn responsibility of filling the vacancy in New York’s 3rd District. The people of Long Island deserve nothing less,” she wrote.
This story is developing.
