Disgraced ex-congressman George Santos trolls Republicans after Democrats claim his old seat

‘#NY3 is #MAGA country and since MAGA was disrespected, MAGA stayed home!’ the ousted Republican representative ranted after Tom Souzzi won his seat

Disgraced former congressman and serial fabulist George Santos trolled the Republican party after Democrats claimed his old seat in New York’s third district.

Democratic Rep Tom Souzzi – the man who represented the district before Mr Santos won in 2022 – won back his old seat on Tuesday night in a tight race against Republican nominee Mazi Melesa Pilip.

Mr Souzzi chose not to run for re-election in 2022, instead mounting a failed primary campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor, which he lost to incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul.

Mr Santos was ousted from Congress on 1 December after an Ethics Committee report found that there was “substantial evidence” that he had “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.

The report revealed that Mr Santos had spent around $6,000 in campaign donations at the luxury brand Ferragamo and Botox injections, according to campaign spreadsheets. It was also reported that campaign funds were used for OnlyFans subscriptions – the site best known for hosting adult content.

But, despite his own scandal-plagued and short-lived foray into politics, Mr Santos didn’t hold back over the Republican party’s loss.

He pinned a tweet on Mr Santos’s X account, which simply read “-1” – a reference to the House Republicans’ ever-tightening majority in the lower chamber, which now stands at 219 Republicans to 213 Democrats.

“I won #NY03 with $0 super PAC money, $0 CLF money and $0 Establishment money,” Mr Santos wrote after 2am ET on Wednesday. “Tonight the establishment set $10 million on fire! I FLIPPED a 23 year Blue seat with the help of grassroots activists and by activating the base with retail politics… Hey @NassauNYGOP money does not buy votes, it’s respecting the wishes of the base that wins votes. #NY3 is #MAGA country and since MAGA was disrespected, MAGA stayed home!”

Mr Santos also reposted a tweet by Georgia Rep Mike Collins, who asked: “So who still thinks Republicans helping Democrats kick out Santos was a good idea?”

He also shared a meme posted by a former Ohio Republican congressional nominee.

The former congressman also appeared to share the sentiments of California Democrat Ted Lieu, who wrote: “Republican Mazi Pilip gave her concession speech from East Meadow, which is not even in #NY03. No worries, we’re going to flip #NY04 too.”

“Hey Ted now here is something I 100% look forward to you doing. #NY4 is next!” Mr Santos chimed in.

“All the gains Republicans have made in North East Queens have been because of candidates & elected officials like @VickieforNYC who are unabashedly MAGA & populist,” the president of the New York Young Republicans, Gavin Wax, wrote on X. “Run a different type of Republican? All of a sudden those deep red districts in Queens go blue. Funny how that works!”

“Funny how there was a MAGA congressman there already,” Mr Santos responded.

He also commented on clips of New York Republicans urging voters to back Ms Pilip, saying that they “aged like milk”.

Mr Santos also called for the resignation of the chair of the Nassau County Republican Party.

Just after midnight on Wednesday morning, Mr Santos called out the New York Republican congressional delegation, writing: “To my former colleagues in the house GOP please make these idiots pay you guys $10million back. These RINO’s are the most effective democrats operatives in the nation!”

Mr Santos, 35, was elected to Congress in 2022 after a failed attempt in 2020. After his election win – but before he was sworn in as a member of Congress – stories began to appear in The North Shore Leader and The New York Times outlining how large parts of his resume were made up, including his job and education history.

It later emerged that Mr Santos told lies about his mother dying on 9/11 and his grandparents being Holocaust survivors. In May, Mr Santos was charged with 13 charges in a Long Island federal court and, in October, was hit with a superseding indictment listing 23 counts. He initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, but he’s now in talks for a possible plea deal.