George Santos Expulsion: House Votes To Expel New York GOP Lawmaker | What's Next?

For only the sixth time in history, a congressman has been expelled as over 2/3 of House Representatives voted for George Santos' expulsion. This came just a few days after the explosive House Ethics Committee report found that the embattled New York Republican broke federal laws regarding his handling of campaign funds.

Expelling a congressman is not easy, as George Santos survived two expulsion attempts before. To expel a representative voted by the people, it requires a 2/3 majority and not just a simple majority. For this new expulsion vote that came after the Ethics Committee report, it was 311-114, easily clearing that 2/3 majority requirement.

As the Associated Press pointed out, the George Santos expulsion marks the Latino congressman's "spectacular fall from grace" as he was once celebrated for flipping a previously blue district into a Republican seat in New York. His downfall started after his background as a Jewish person and as a person who worked on Wall Street was exposed.

Santos claimed that his grandparents escaped the holocaust to Brazil and also claimed he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. These were exposed as lies as Santos is a Roman Catholic and has never had any Jewish blood, with his grandparents being all Brazilian and having stayed in Brazil all their lives.

This led to increasing scrutiny of Santos, revealing that he was wanted in Brazil for theft, as well as being exposed as a drag queen in the country. His myriad of lies later became a growing distraction and embarrassment for the Republican Party as many of his fellow GOP colleagues have been calling for his expulsion.

George Santos Expulsion Bad for House Republicans, Even If It Was the Right Thing To Do

Republicans are divided on the issue of George Santos' expulsion. On one hand, many felt that it was morally the right thing to do, and on the other, losing Santos meant that they were also losing more voting numbers as they only had a razor-thin majority in the House.

As CNN noted, 105 Republicans voted for expulsion, while 112 voted against. Of those who voted to keep George Santos, they included House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, and House GOP Whip Tom Emmer.

While a majority of Republicans went on to vote for the ethics of it all, a majority of them still voted politically as many still sought to preserve that majority, because the loss of just one vote could spell bad news for the Republicans in the House, as was shown in the House Speakership chaos.

What Happens Next After the George Santos Expulsion?

With George Santos' expulsion, his official website was taken down and the BBC reported that his staff phones now go to a generic voicemail and the nameplate outside his office has already been removed.

The now-former Congressman can no longer vote on legislation or rely on his government health benefits, nor is he eligible for a congressional legislative pension. However, he can still reap benefits for former members of Congress, such as exercising in the Capitol gym or borrowing books from the Library of Congress.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul now has 10 days to call for an election, with the likelihood of it happening in February being high. However, this may be bad for any Republican candidate as the shadow of Santos' many scandals would be looming over them and the probability of it being flipped blue again is also high.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: George Santos becomes sixth House member expelled from Congress - MSNBC