Congressman George Santos was kicked out of the US House. Here’s how SC’s members voted
All but one of South Carolina’s U.S. House members voted to keep New York Congressman George Santos in office. Santos, a New York Republican, was expelled Friday in a bipartisan vote.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s lone Democrat in the U.S. House, was the only member of the state’s delegation to vote to remove Santos. Clyburn was one of 311 House members, including 105 Republicans and 206 Democrats, who voted to oust Santos.
Santos is only the sixth member in history to be expelled from the House.
South Carolina’s Republican U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan, Russell Fry, Nancy Mace, Ralph Norman, William Timmons and Joe Wilson, voted against the expulsion. In total, 114 members, including two Democrats, voted to allow Santos to stay.
Duncan in a statement said a expulsion should only take place if Santos is convicted of charges in court.
“I don’t stand for anything Congressman Santos allegedly did. The allegations outlined in the Ethics Committee report damage his reputation, and if proven in court, Congressman Santos should be expelled,” Duncan said. “Expelling a member of Congress can disenfranchise the voters of their district. We must set the bar as high as possible for expulsion. The clear Congressional precedent of the past 160 years is that the bar is conviction of federal crimes after a trial before a jury of one’s peers. That hasn’t happened yet.”
Two previous efforts to oust Santos were unsuccessful, but a recent House Ethics Committee report said he had broken federal laws by using campaign money on personal expenses including trips to casinos, Botox and on adult websites.
Santos has been indicted on 23 federal charges including fraud, identity theft and providing false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
