George Santos ends comeback bid for Congress after raising no money

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos on Tuesday said he is dropping his longshot bid to return to Congress, months after he was expelled from the House while facing a slew of federal fraud charges.

Santos, who was running as an independent candidate for the 1st Congressional District in New York, said he was withdrawing from the race in a post on the social media platform X.

The announcement came after the disgraced former congressman’s campaign committee reported no fundraising or expenditures in March, raising speculation that his campaign had failed to get off the ground.

Santos last month launched a campaign to challenge Republican Rep. Nick LaLota in the GOP primary for the eastern Long Island congressional district, which is a different district than the one he previously represented. Weeks later, Santos said he was leaving the Republican Party and would instead run for the seat as an independent.

“Although Nick and I don’t have the same voting record and I remain critical of his abysmal record, I don’t want to split the ticket and be responsible for handing the house to Dems,” Santos wrote on X, adding, “Staying in this race all but guarantees a victory for the Dems in the race.”

Santos was expelled from the House in December following a damaging ethics committee report that determined there was “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking and that he “cannot be trusted.” He was just the sixth member expelled by colleagues in the chamber’s history.

The former congressman has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that include deceiving Congress about his wealth, stealing from his campaign and obtaining unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve. He has a trial tentatively scheduled for later this year.

In his post on X, Santos did not rule out seeking office in the future.

“It’s only goodbye for now,” he wrote, “I’ll be back.”

Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press