华盛顿-华盛顿(美联社)——乔治·桑托斯已经离开了众议院，但他的名字肯定会在明年纽约的关键国会竞选中出现。民主党人的目标是第一任期共和党人拥有的五个席位，并希望尽可能经常地将他们与他们在该州国会代表团的前同事联系起来。
民主党在这方面的努力有多成功，可能有助于决定哪个政党在2025年占据众议院的多数席位。
随着纽约州民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)在周五导致桑托斯被驱逐的评论中严厉批评共和党人，这种结盟策略显而易见。
“听着，众议院共和党人在当选之前就很了解乔治·桑多斯。我们有理由相信，要么是有意将这些信息排除在公共领域之外，要么是故意视而不见，”杰弗里斯说。“然后，当信息爆发到公共领域时，继续纵容乔治·桑托斯，并在这一年的大部分时间里与他暗中勾结。”
对桑托斯可能影响其他共和党成员在选民中的地位的担忧是显而易见的，因为纽约人在驱逐桑托斯的运动中成为了焦点。
共和党众议员安东尼·德·埃斯波西托(Anthony D'Esposito)的选区与桑托斯的选区接壤，他提出了驱逐立法，因此必须在两天内采取行动，尽管它是由密西西比州议员、共和党众议员、众议院道德委员会主席迈克尔·盖斯特(Michael Guest)起草的。
那些在电视上观看埃斯波西托宣读决议的人看到众议员尼克·拉洛塔坐在他的左边，众议员迈克·劳勒坐在他的正后方。两人都是来自纽约的第一任期立法者，他们的选区支持民主党乔·拜登在2020年的总统大选中选举。拜登在埃斯波西托的选区领先超过14个百分点。
当决议到达众议院时，埃斯波西托还领导了支持驱逐的辩论。桑托斯为反对该决议的人主持了辩论。拉洛塔和劳勒也发了言，另一位纽约共和党众议员马克·莫里纳罗(Marc Molinaro)也发了言，他一度对众议院在议员出庭前驱逐他们的先例感到担忧，这让他感到愤怒。
“亲爱的上帝，议长先生，我未来的前同事脱离了现实，”莫里纳罗说。"他编造了自己的一生来骗取他所在选区的选民对国会议员的诚实选择。"
桑托斯以54%的得票率赢得了他所在的长岛选区，扭转了民主党人占据的席位。但不久之后，开始有报道称桑托斯谎称自己有犹太血统、在华尔街顶级公司工作过以及拥有大学学位。他成了他聚会上的一个分散注意力和令人尴尬的人。然后是联邦指控和众议院道德委员会的高度批评报告。桑托斯否认有罪。
在毗邻的选区，德埃斯波西托以52%的选票获胜，劳勒以50%的选票赢得了纽约市北部的一个郊区选区。同样以51%的得票率险胜的还有莫里纳罗和布兰登·威廉姆斯，他们的得票率也是51%。
5月，所有五名共和党人投票将民主党发起的驱逐桑托斯的决议提交给道德委员会。这是一次党派投票。在大约六个月后的第二次驱逐行动中，所有五人都投票支持驱逐桑托斯，他们周五再次投票。
莫里纳罗说，他相信选民会从桑托斯继续前进，并指出2024年是总统选举年，争夺白宫的比赛受到更多关注。
“乔治·桑托斯是一个不诚实的骗子，应该根据他的行为来判断。我们其余的人应该基于我们的行动，”他说。
埃斯波西托在提出共和党领导的驱逐决议后明确表示，共和党领导层同意纽约代表团的成员应该被视为领导这项努力。
众议院议长迈克·约翰逊。可以看到，在D'Esposito提出驱逐决议作为当天早些时候民主党领导的决议的对应方案之前，他与纽约人交谈了几分钟。投票结束后，约翰逊前往纽约，与几位参与罢免桑托斯的共和党人一起参加筹款活动。
当被问及为什么一名纽约人提出一项由密西西比州议员发起的决议时，D'Esposito说，Guest“理解这对纽约人，特别是美国新生有多重要。”
“我们翻转了重要的席位，这构成了大多数，”德埃斯波西托说。“如果我们想保住这些席位，我认为我们应该做的是摆脱乔治·桑托斯的污点。”
桑托斯席位的特别选举可能在2月中下旬举行，时间表由州法律规定。民主党很有可能赢回席位。已经拥挤不堪的候选人包括民主党人汤姆·索奇，他在竞选州长失败前曾代表该地区。
众议院共和党人竞选团队主席、众议员理查德·哈德逊(Richard Hudson)驳斥了Santos玷污其他共和党人的威胁。哈德逊说，选民明年将关心通货膨胀的代价，以及他们的孩子在他们的社区和学校是否安全。
“他们不会关心谁曾经是附近某个地方的国会议员，”共和党全国委员会的哈德森说
民主党人不同意，并说驱逐太少，太晚了。民主党国会竞选委员会发言人埃莉·多尔蒂(Ellie Dougherty)表示，纽约共和党人花了数月时间保护桑托斯。
“无论是在长岛、哈德逊谷还是纽约中部，我们都将确保选民在明年的选举前知道谁应该为不信任和腐败负责——那就是共和党，”她说。
GOP had New Yorkers lead way in expelling Santos. Will it help them keep majority?
WASHINGTON --WASHINGTON (AP) — George Santos is gone from the House, but his name is certain to pop up in key congressional races across New York next year. Democrats are targeting five seats held by first-term Republicans and looking to associate them with their former colleague in the state's congressional delegation as often as they can.
How successful Democrats are in that effort could help determine which party holds the majority in the House in 2025.
The strategy of association was evident as Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York castigated Republicans in comments leading up to Santos' expulsion on Friday.
“Look, House Republicans knew a lot about George Santos before he was elected. And we have reason to believe either intentionally kept that information out of the public domain or willfully turned a blind eye,” Jeffries said. “And then, when the information exploded into the public domain, continue to coddle George Santos and play footsie with him for the better part of the year.”
The concern about Santos possibly tainting other Republican members' standing with voters was evident as New Yorkers made themselves front and center in the drive to expel Santos.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a Republican whose district borders Santos’ district, offered the expulsion legislation so that it had to be acted on within two days, even though it had been authored by a Mississippi lawmaker, GOP Rep. Michael Guest, chairman of the House Ethics Committee.
Those watching D'Esposito read the resolution on television saw Rep. Nick LaLota sitting to his left and Rep. Mike Lawler sitting directly behind him. Both are first-term lawmakers from New York whose districts favored DemocratJoe Bidenin the 2020 presidentialelection. Biden carried D'Esposito's district by more than 14 percentage points.
D'Esposito also led the debate for proponents of expulsion when the resolution reached the House floor. Santos led the debate for those arguing against the resolution. LaLota and Lawler also spoke, as did Rep. Marc Molinaro, another New York Republican who at one point grew exasperated as concerns were raised about the House setting a precedent of expelling members before they had their day in court.
“Dear God, Mr. Speaker, my future former colleague is divorced from reality,” Molinaro said. “He has manufactured his entire life to defraud the voters of his district of an honest choice for a member of Congress.”
Santos won his Long Island-based district with 54% of the vote, flipping a seat that had been held by the Democrats. But soon after, reports began to emerge that Santos had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree. He turned into a distraction and an embarrassmen t to his party. Then came federal charges and the highly critical report from the House Ethics Committee. Santos has pleaded not guilty.
In an adjoining district, D'Esposito won with 52% of the vote, Lawler won a suburban district just north of New York City with 50% of the vote. Also able to generate close victories were Molinaro with 51% and Brandon Williams, also with, 51%.
In May, all five of the Republicans voted to refer to the Ethics Committee a Democratic-sponsored resolution to expel Santos. It was a party-line vote. In a second expulsion effort some six months later, all five voted for expelling Santos, and they did so again Friday.
Molinaro said he believes voters will move on from Santos and noted that 2024 is a presidential election year, with the race for the White House garnering more of the attention.
“George Santos is a dishonest fraud and should be judged based on his actions. The rest of us should be based on our actions,” he said.
D'Esposito made clear after offering the Republican-led expulsion resolution that GOP leadership agreed that members of the New York delegation should be seen as leading the effort.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., could be seen talking to the New Yorkers for several minutes before D'Esposito offered the expulsion resolution as a counterpart to a Democratic-led resolution earlier that day. After the vote, Johnson was headed to New York for fundraising events with several of the Republicans involved in removing Santos.
Asked why a New Yorker was offering a resolution sponsored by a congressman from Mississippi, D'Esposito said Guest “understood how important it is to New Yorkers, especially us freshmen.”
"We flipped seats that are important, that made this majority,” D’Esposito said. “And if we want to keep those seats, I think what we should do is rid ourselves of the stain that is George Santos.”
A special election for the Santos seat is likely to be held in mid-to-late February under a timeframe set by state law. Democrats will have a strong chance of winning back the seat. The already crowded field includes Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who previously represented the district before an unsuccessful run for governor.
Rep. Richard Hudson, chairman of the campaign arm for House Republicans, dismissed the threat of Santos tainting other Republicans. Hudson said voters next year will be caring about the toll of inflation and whether their kids are safe in their neighborhoods and at their schools.
“They are not going to care about who used to be the congressman from somewhere nearby,” said Hudson, R-N.C.
Democrats disagree and say the expulsion was too little, too late. Ellie Dougherty, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said New York Republicans spent months protecting Santos.
"Whether it’s on Long Island or in the Hudson Valley or Central New York, we’ll make sure voters know who’s responsible for enabling distrust and corruption ahead of next year’s elections — and that’s the Republican Party," she said.
