Why is George Santos running for re-election? Campaign finance experts offer some theories.

Queens and Long Island Rep. George Santos is officially running again. While he faces steep odds – having lied to voters about a number of points in his life story– donors of his re-election campaign could help him fend off legal fees as several investigations into his actions continue.

“Good isn’t good enough, and I’m not shy about doing what it takes to get the job done,” Santos said on Monday, in a statement on Twitter. “I’m proud to announce my candidacy to run for re-election and continue to serve the people of NY-3.”

Santos, who hinted he would run again after opening a campaign committee last month, is currently the subject of several inquiries. Early this year, the House ethics committee began reviewing a complaint over his campaign finance practices.

But some election experts argue his bid for re-election could be a way to secure additional sources of financing as investigations into his conduct continue.

“The motivations can range from he really wants to vindicate himself to continuing to raise money to cover some of the costs to responding to some of these investigations, and he can only do that as a candidate,” said Daniel I. Weiner, director of elections, government and democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Few restrictions apply to how campaign funds can be used. With the exception of directly using money from campaign donors for personal use – like purchasing a car or new clothes – it could be used for running ads or legal fees for investigations into his candidacy.

Recent data filed with the Federal Election Commission show Santos’ campaign received just over $5,000 in new contributions in the first three months of 2023. However, his campaign returnedover $8,000 to donors during the same time period.

Polls show Santos is unpopular among voters in his district. He’s faced protests, and even members of his own party, including the Nassau County Republicans, have called on him to resign.

His announcement did not resonate well with residents within his district, including those that live just minutes away from his district office in Queens. Sean Holohan, a resident who did not identify his party affiliation, said he plans to vote in the next election, but will not be voting for Santos.

“Democrat or Republican, someone needs to replace him,” he said.

Nassau County legislator, Josh Lafazan, a Democrat, led a press conference outside of Santos’ office on Monday, hours before Santos officially announced his re-election campaign.

“He has the audacity to announce that he is going to run for re-election,” Lafazan said. “Quite frankly, it’s inexcusable that the law enforcement investigations are taking this long.”

Mere weeks after originally winning his seat in November last year, reporting by The New York Times and other outlets found discrepancies in the identity he’d crafted of himself as an openly gay and Jewish businessman while campaigning for the seat. He did not have a successful career in real estate or on Wall Street as he had claimed. Contrary to his campaign biography, his grandparents had not fled the holocaust – they were already living in Brazil before the Nazis rose to power. Santos, who ran as openly-gay, also divorced his wife three years before running for office.

The Nassau County district attorney’s office launched an investigation into Santos a day after he admitted to fabricating his biography in an interview with the New York Post in December. Federal prosecutors followed suit with their own investigation into Santos days before he was sworn into office earlier this year.

More falsehoods have come to light since Santos joined Congress: he never had a brain tumor, he was never robbed of rent money, his mother was not in the Twin Towers during the Sept. 11 attacks and he was not the victim of an attempted murder. He also reportedly scammed a veteran of thousands needed for a costly operation to save a dog’s life.

In March, a third inquiry began: the House ethics committee launched an investigation into Santos after two New York lawmakers filed a complaint against him for breaking campaign finance laws. Santos stepped down from two committee assignments, and said he intended to cooperate with the congressional investigation.

“The House Committee on Ethics has opened an investigation, and Congressman George Santos is fully cooperating,” Santos’ official Twitter account said on March 2. “There will be no further comment made at this time.”