New York Republican Rep. George Santos’ short and dazzling political career came to an end on Friday as a supermajority of his colleagues executed a maneuver as rare as the man they’re poised to evict from the House.

No less than two-thirds of the chamber voted for a resolution from Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, a fellow Republican from Mississippi, that made Santos only the third person to be booted from Congress since the Civil War – a dishonorable distinction previously reserved for convicted felons.

Santos is not one – at least, not yet. He’s been charged with a litany of wrongdoing, from fraud and money laundering to theft and stealing donors’ identities. His list of offenses, some alleged and others confirmed (often by him), runs much longer and places him comfortably among the foremost rogues and reprobates to make a cameo on America’s nearly 250-year-old political scene.

In less sweeping terms, Santos’ many transgressions are sure to endanger the GOP House majority, thin before and now looking downright bony after his number was taken off the board.

  • flug@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Assuming the Santos seat flips Democrat, the house goes from 222-213 to 221-214.

    So a 9 vote margin to a 7 vote margin.

    It is mighty thin indeed…

    For comparison, in the previous Congress the Democratic majority mostly ranged from 218 to 222 (for the last couple of weeks of 2022 it was as low as 216-213 due to resignations etc). See

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/117th_United_States_Congress