George Santos says he will run as independent because he finds GOP ‘too embarrassing’

Ex-congressman George Santos says that he will run for his old seat in the House of Representatives again — but not as a Republican.

On Friday, the former representative for northern Nassau County, New York, posted on Twitter that he would “no longer be part of the Republican Party” after the GOP’s “embarrassing showing in the [H]ouse”.

Mr Santos was referring to the GOP majority passing legislation to avert a partial government shutdown without deep spending cuts that conservatives had called for.

He went on: “I am officially suspending my petitioning in #NY01 to access the ballot as a Republican and will be filling to run as an independent…I will take my Ultra MAGA/Trump supporting values to the ballot in November as an Independent.”

The former congressman’s words should be taken with a grain of salt given that he is a serial liar who has admitted to fabricating much of his background.

After he was elected in 2022, it was revealed that he had lied about matters ranging from his supposed attendance of a New York college to being descended from Holocaust survivors. Mr Santos was ousted from the House by his peers — with Republicans joining Democrats to do so — after accusations against him grew to include the alleged defrauding of a fellow congressman’s family member for a campaign donation.

He has since sought to remain closely aligned with the Trump-loyalist faction of the GOP, which protected him as moderate Republicans and Democrats called for his removal from Congress.

Mr Santos is a regular at events hosted by the Trump-devoted, DC chapter of the Young Republicans organisation, which insiders have described to The Independent as having taken a sharp right turn in recent years.

As recently as February, the group was feverishly defending Mr Santos on Twitter/X, and attacking Republicans who have registered disgust with their disgraced colleague.

Mr Santos remains under federal criminal investigation. In January, he asked a judge for more time to pursue a plea deal on charges of fraud and money laundering. He is charged with a total of 23 counts including aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. Publicly, he has mantained his innocence.

The former congressman’s district was won by Democrat Tom Suozzi, who previously represented the area, in a special election last month.

With New York’s 3rd congressional district flipping blue and a series of resignations by Republicans, the thin GOP majority in the House is set to shrink to just one member in the coming weeks.