George Santos has been expelled. Here’s what happens next.
House Republican George Santos has been expelled today by an overwhelming majority vote, making him one of the very few House members to ever be expelled. That’s because most people have the sense to resign once they realize they’re about to be expelled. But suffice it to say that Santos took a different path.
What stands out about this is that, for all their stupid, unhinged, and politically tone deaf behavior, even these House Republicans appeared to be afraid of the electoral fallout of keeping Santos around any longer. It’s a good reminder that everything in politics does have consequences. If House Republicans thought they were in some kind of magic vortex where they could get away with anything they want and still win in 2024, they wouldn’t have bothered expelling Santos today. They chose to lose a House seat from their narrow majority today, because they feared that Santos could cause them to lose the majority entirely in 2024. And he still might.
House Republicans were way late to make this move, and we need to make that part of our messaging in House races going forward. The Republican Party also clearly did nothing to vet George Santos as a candidate to begin with (or knew about this stuff and kept it buried), which should raise questions about the vetting of every House candidate the Republicans nominate going forward.
In other words, the Republicans have given us a lot to work with here, even now that they have shoved Santos out the back door. And of course his criminal trial should end up taking place sometime around the 2024 election, which will serve as a good reminder to the voting public that this guy was one of the rising faces of the Republican Party.
More importantly, in the meantime, George Santos’ expulsion means that we’re looking at a special election to replace him in about ninety days. We need to be ready to gear up for it very soon. Stay tuned.
