Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) ended his independent bid for Congress on Tuesday after storming back to the campaign trail following his expulsion from Congress in December.
Santos announced his challenge to Republican Rep. Nick Lalota (N.Y.) in early March, reversing his previous pledge that he would not seek elective office again. He became just the sixth person to be ousted from the House in its history after an investigation found he spent thousands of campaign dollars on Botox, designer products and other expenses.
Santos said at the end of March he would leave the Republican Party and run as an independent, claiming at the time the GOP had continued “to lie and swindle its voter base.” But he said Tuesday he didn’t want his bid to split the vote between himself and Lalota and “be responsible for handing the house to the Dems.”
“Staying in this race all but guarantees a victory for the Dems in the race,” Santos wrote on X. “I have [met] with leaders and with constituents and I have made the decision to hang it up here and stop perusing this race, THIS YEAR!”