(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Ousted ex-Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., lambasted several former House colleagues after Democrats regained control of his old seat this week in a special election, tightening the GOP’s already razor-thin majority.
“I hope you guys are happy with this dismal performance and the 10 million dollars your futile Bull S**t cost the party,” Santos wrote in a text message that reportedly went out to nine current GOP lawmakers in New York’s congressional delegation, with the only exception being Rep. Brandon Williams, according to Semafor.
“I look very forward to most of you losing due to your absolute hate filled campaign to remove me from Congress arbitrarily,” Santos added. “Now go tell the Republicans Base what you f**king idiots did and good luck raising money next quarter.”
Only one recipient responded to the group-text.
“Sorry, new phone, who dis?” replied Rep. Andrew Garbarino.
Another, Rep. Marc Molinaro, responded via text to Semafor’s request for comment with a single word: “NOPE.”
The House voted to expel Santos from his seat in December after an Ethics Committee report accused him of theft, fraud and making false statements about his finances. Investigators also discovered several inconsistencies in statements about his personal life.
Santos’s expulsion led to a special election between former Democrat Rep. Tom Suozzi—whom Santos had defeated in 2022—and RINO candidate Mazi Pilip, who, according to some reports, is a registered Democrat. Suozzi won the race and flipped the seat blue on Tuesday.
Suozzi’s swearing in will take place on Feb. 28.
The special election left House Republicans with a less-than-comfortable majority of 219 to 213 Democrats, including Suozzi, and three vacancies to fill.
Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Bill Johnson, R-Ohio; and Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., all resigned in the the last few months.
Higgins’s surprise retirement came as some relief, albeit temporary, to the beleaguered GOP when he recently announced plans to take over as the head of Buffalo’s Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Gov. Kathy Hochul set a special election to elect Higgins’s replacement for April 30. The area’s Democratic Committee nominated state Sen. Tim Kennedy, who is also running in the primary for the November general election; the local GOP has yet to announce a candidate.
Either way, the seat in the 26th District is likely to be a lock for Democrats, having backed Higgins by nearly 64% in 2022.
McCarthy’s seat for the 20th District of California looks to be a reasonably secure Republican win, with the population of the Central Valley having voted for former President Donald Trump by 25 points in the 2020 election.
Nine candidates filed to compete for the open seat, including three Democrats, three Republicans and three under “no party preference.” McCarthy endorsed Vince Fong, a state-level representative in California, as his replacement.
A primary for the special election will take place on March 19, which is exactly two weeks after the state’s nonpartisan primary for the general election. In both cases, the top two candidates, regardless of party, will advance.
The special election itself will occur on May 21, likely giving the victor just half a year to fill the balance of McCarthy’s term, which abruptly ended last year following his ouster as House speaker in October. As with Santos, it was fellow Republicans who were to blame, although they were arguably justified in seeking to replace the weak and ineffective leader.
A special election to replace Johnson will take place in Ohio’s 6th district on June 11, the same day as the state’s primary elections.
Projections show the district, nestled in the far northeast corner of Ohio, will bring in another Republican. Johnson held the seat for a decade, and the region seems to have increasingly Republican tendencies over the last several presidential elections.
Three Republican candidates have filed to compete for the seat in both the primary and the special election, including two former state-level legislators: Rep. Michael Rulli of Salem, Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus of Paris Township, and chiropractor Rick Tsai.
The House GOP needs to hold on to at least 218 seats in order to maintain its majority vote. Winning a simple majority vote allows Republican bills to move on to the Senate.
Unlike the Senate, the House does not have a mechanism to break tie votes.
