Ousted NY Rep. George Santos says he won't run for Congress again after all

George Santos, the former Republican Congress member expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives by his colleagues last year, suspended his campaign for another congressional seat on Long Island on Tuesday.

He made the announcement in a post on the social media platform X.

In his statement, Santos said he would no longer run to represent the 1st Congressional District, located on the far east end of Long Island. The seat is currently held by Rep. Nick LaLota, a Republican, who was a vocal proponent of Santos removal from the House when he represented the neighboring 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of eastern Queens and northern Nassau County.

Santos said he did not want his campaign to be viewed as “reprisal” against LaLota, which could inadvertently help Democrats win the seat.

“Although Nick and I don’t have the same voting record and I remain critical of his abysmal record, I don’t want to split the ticket and be responsible for handing the house to Dems,” Santos wrote.

Santos said his decision to suspend his campaign was also a response to rising antisemitism. He has been critical of the handling of the protests at Columbia University and other college campuses, calling the students and faculty demanding a ceasefire in Gaza “Hamas sympathizers.”

“It is clear that with the rise of antisemitism in our country we cannot afford to hand the house to Dems as they have a very large issue with antisemitism in their ranks,” he also wrote.

Santos planned to run as an independent instead of taking on LaLota in the Republican primary. He made the announcement that he would run for another congressional district following President Joe Biden‘s State of the Union address last month. He also announced that on X.

During the fundraising period covered by his campaign, Santos reported raising and spending no money, according the most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.

The former representative still faces a 23-count criminal indictment in the Eastern District related to his alleged misuse of campaign funds for his previous office. A trial is expected to begin in September.

While Santos said he will not seek elected office this year, he did not rule out the possibility of running again in the future.

“The future holds countless possibilities and I am ready [sic] willing and able to step up to the plate and go fight for my country at anytime,” he wrote in his statement.

LaLota offered his own take on Santos’ exit from the campaign.

“Chat GPT translation: He’s taking a plea deal,” LaLota wrote on X.

“You wish you useless feckless RINO,” Santos said in response on the social media platform.

This story has been updated with new information.