Santos ousted as Nassau looks for new Representative

By Kwasi Osei-Amankwah

Feb 9 2024

GREAT NECK — New York’s 3rd con­gres­sion­al dis­trict will hold a spe­cial elec­tion after Con­gress removed its rep­re­sen­ta­tive, George San­tos, due to evi­dence of fraud and libel.

Elec­tions in the dis­trict usu­al­ly hap­pen in Novem­ber, like most oth­er elec­tions. But New York’s third con­gres­sion­al dis­trict recent­ly saw a his­toric event when Con­gress vot­ed 311–114 to expel Rep. San­tos. 

This will lead to an emer­gency elec­tion on Feb 13 to fill the vacant seat. This is the first time a mem­ber of Con­gress has been oust­ed from the House with­out a pri­or con­vic­tion since the after­math of the Civ­il War. Some mem­bers who vot­ed to keep San­tos argued that his expul­sion could set a bad prece­dent for future Amer­i­can pol­i­tics.

The Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Jus­tice revealed that San­tos had applied for and received unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits while he was employed and run­ning for Con­gress dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. 

It was also dis­cov­ered that he had used cam­paign con­tri­bu­tions to pay off per­son­al debts and buy design­er cloth­ing. The North Shore Leader, a Long Island news­pa­per, first report­ed this, but the pub­lish­er, Grant Lal­ly, was not avail­able for com­ment.

The out­come of the upcom­ing elec­tion will have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on the 3rd con­gres­sion­al dis­trict of New York and the entire nation, espe­cial­ly with the pres­i­den­tial elec­tion approach­ing. 

Democ­rats have called for the nom­i­na­tion of Tom Suozzi, the for­mer dis­trict rep­re­sen­ta­tive, to run for re-elec­tion after los­ing to San­tos. Mean­while, the Repub­li­cans have nom­i­nat­ed Mazi Pilip, a reg­is­tered Demo­c­rat, as their can­di­date.

Jef­frey Ladewig, a polit­i­cal sci­ence pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Con­necti­cut, described this event as “his­tor­i­cal.” When asked if Con­gress’ deci­sion was jus­ti­fied, he empha­sized the unques­tion­able pow­er wield­ed by Con­gress and backed their deci­sion, say­ing, “In essence, what does ‘jus­ti­fied’ mean? It was up to Con­gress to estab­lish their cri­te­ria. They have the author­i­ty to remove some­one they deemed need­ed to be removed.” 

This removal from office before a crim­i­nal con­vic­tion sets a unique prece­dent, rais­ing ques­tions about the cri­te­ria Con­gress employs in such deci­sions and how the San­tos case will affect future gov­ern­ment mem­bers.

Ladewig also com­ment­ed on San­tos’ elec­tion despite fac­ing fraud accu­sa­tions, high­light­ing the impor­tance of jour­nal­ists in deliv­er­ing accu­rate infor­ma­tion to the pub­lic to avoid such sit­u­a­tions. He also men­tioned the rise of polit­i­cal per­son­al­i­ties as a rea­son for San­tos’ elec­tion and empha­sized the respon­si­bil­i­ty of vot­ers to research and elect offi­cials who rep­re­sent them.

The cit­i­zens of the 3rd con­gres­sion­al dis­trict must reassess their ini­tial choice and choose a new rep­re­sen­ta­tive, an unprece­dent­ed sit­u­a­tion trig­gered by extra­or­di­nary cir­cum­stances. Despite the uncon­ven­tion­al tim­ing of the elec­tion in the mid­dle of win­ter, res­i­dents, includ­ing col­lege stu­dents, must remain vig­i­lant and well-informed as they pre­pare to cast their votes.

The cit­i­zens of the 3rd con­gres­sion­al dis­trict, known for its award-win­ning school dis­tricts and being a com­muter town near New York City, must choose a rep­re­sen­ta­tive who aligns with their val­ues, aspi­ra­tions, and ethics. While the dis­trict has his­tor­i­cal­ly swung both ways, Tom Suozzi is cur­rent­ly lead­ing the polls as the favorite to retake his seat in the House, with only a 4‑point lead over Pilip.