Santos insists his scandals haven’t hurt GOP

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) insisted his scandals have not hurt the Republican Party as Democrats successfully flipped his former seat Tuesday night.

NewsNation’s Dan Abrams asked Santos whether his scandals had hurt the Republican Party in the New York special election to fill his vacated seat. Santos was expelled from Congress last year after being indicted on criminal charges and after it was revealed he made many false claims about his background and professional experience.

“Absolutely not. Last year, in 2023, we had local elections,” he said on “Dan Abrams Live” before the race was called. “Every single Republican incumbent in NY-3 was reelected, and we flipped two seats locally from blue to red that historically had been blue, so George Santos does not affect the bottom line of anyone in NY-3 and I think that’s been proven last election.”

“And I think it’ll be proven tonight,” he added.

Former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D) won back his old seat Tuesday night, securing a win over Republican Mazi Pilip in the special election. This was a key win for Democrats, who had lost New York’s 3rd Congressional District in 2022 despite the district voting for President Biden in 2020.

Santos also said he had “mixed feelings” on whether he wanted Suozzi or Pilip to win.

“I don’t want Suozzi to win, because Suozzi did vote for a lot of the policies and voted with Joe Biden on the issues that we’re facing as New Yorkers today. On the flip pan, you’re right, I kind of want to stick it to the people who took me out,” Santos said.

With Suozzi’s win, the Republican majority in the House will now narrow to 219-213. Shortly after the race was called for Suozzi, Santos wrote “-1” on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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