Disgraced former congressman George Santos — the admitted serial liar who was expelled from the House of Representatives in December after only 11 (bonkers) months in office and will soon face federal trial on fraud and money-laundering charges — says he is running for Congress again. Santos announced his run in an X/Twitter post right in the middle of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday night, which of course Santos showed up for too. (No, he wasn’t banned from returning to Congress as an ex-representative.)
In his announcement, Santos said he would run as a Republican in New York’s First Congressional District against the GOP incumbent, Nick LaLota, who had helped lead the effort to oust Santos from Congress before he was finally expelled. Santos said in his announcement that LaLota is a “RINO empty suit.” (The district is next door to the one Santos previously represented on Long Island, which was won by Democrat Tom Suozzi last month following a special election.)
LaLota struck back immediately.
Democrats John Avlon and Nancy Goroff have announced that they are running to unseat LaLota, as well. In a statement, Avlon said in response to the Santos news: “Bring it on.”
Santos — who had pivoted to Cameo for making money after being kicked out of the House — clearly timed his announcement and State of the Union attendance to draw as much attention to himself as he could. Whether or not his declaration was yet another lie remains to be seen.
This post has been updated.
