During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, expelled U.S. Representative George Santos (R-NY, 3rd congressional district) announced on social media that he plans to run for Congress against Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY, 1st congressional district) in the 2024 Republican primary.
[Note: In his statement, Santos claims he left office “arbitrarily.” Which is one way of saying he was expelled in a bipartisan vote while under indictment for ‘multiple fraudulent schemes.’]
LaLota responded to Santos’s announcement on X: “To raise the standard in Congress, and to hold a pathological liar who stole an election accountable, I led the charge to expel George Santos. If finishing the job requires beating him in a primary, count me in.”
Pathetic little man…
Since you refuse to move to the district, I’m coming in hot!
Lalota is a Democrat RINO with an abysmal record! https://t.co/EncPR3UpT4
— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) March 8, 2024
Santos reacted by calling his former congressional colleague, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who served three overseas deployments and earned an MBA and JD from Hofstra University, “a pathetic little man.”
The Republican House Majority goes through Long Island, chip in today to hold the line!https://t.co/wuFU1Gcjq4
— Nick LaLota (@nicklalota) March 8, 2024
NOTE: Shortly after he assumed his seat in the House of Representatives in January 2023, LaLota became one of the first Republicans to call for a full House Ethics Committee investigation after Santos admitted to lying about his background on the campaign trail.