NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos has announced he's running for re-election in 2024.
Santos, 34, announced his candidacy for a second term in a press release on Monday, touting his record as a "proven" "diligent legislator and outspoken critic of the Washington Establishment."
"From setting the bar high with his first bill, The SALT Relief Act, Congressman Santos has introduced and cosponsored more bills than any other New York freshman member of Congress, proving he's here to lead and bring home RESULTS for New York," the release continued.
"As a first-generation American, I am no stranger to the issues affecting my district. I grew up poor with a single mom, and thanks to the American dream, a poor boy of immigrant parents in Queens can grow up to serve his community in the halls of Congress," Santos said in a statement. "When I ran in 2022, no one said we'd win; 'That's a safe Biden seat,' they said. Well, guess what? That D+2, Biden +10 seat I won by 8.5 points. Not only won but made history as the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress."
A source told the New York Post that the disgraced representative announced his re-election more than a year before the next congressional election because he thinks he can raise $500,000 to $750,000 in the interim.
Apparently Santos needs the money after refunding individual donors a total of $8,353 between Jan. 1 and March 31 — or significantly more than the $5,333 he took in, according to campaign finance records and CBS News.
He reportedly still has over $25,000 on hand.
Santos has admitted he had portrayed himself as someone he was not — not a college graduate, not a Wall Street whiz, not from a Jewish family of Holocaust survivors, not the son who lost his mother in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
While Santos did remove himself from his committee assignments in January amid multiple investigations, he has withstood the pressure from Republicans to resign and from Democrats to be expelled from office.
A poll conducted at the time in his district, which includes a small part of Queens, found that 78% of voters thought he should resign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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