CNN
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Former New York Rep. George Santos introduced Friday that he was leaving the Republican Occasion and would continue his congressional comeback bid as an impartial.
Santos, who faces a slew of federal charges and was expelled from the House final yr, attacked the GOP in a social media publish and pledged to take “Extremely MAGA/Trump supporting values to the poll in November as an Impartial.”
“I in good conscience can’t affiliate myself with a celebration that stands for nothing and falls for all the pieces,” he wrote on X. “I’m formally suspending my petitioning in #NY01 to entry the poll as a Republican and will probably be filling to run as an impartial.”
Santos beforehand represented New York’s third Congressional District on Lengthy Island. Earlier this month, throughout President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, the previous congressman introduced he would problem Republican Rep. Nick LaLota within the neighboring 1st District. LaLota launched a decision to expel him final fall.
LaLota, an outspoken critic of Santos, responded to the problem by touting his effort to kick out his former colleague and “maintain a pathological liar who stole an election accountable.”
“If ending the job requires beating him in a main, rely me in,” LaLota stated on March 7.
Santos has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal fees, together with allegations of fraud associated to Covid-19 unemployment advantages, misusing marketing campaign funds and mendacity about his private funds on Home disclosure reviews.
For Santos to run as an impartial in November, he’ll must file an impartial nominating petition with the signatures of three,500 voters in New York’s 1st District to the Suffolk County Board of Elections by Might 28.
CNN’s Molly English, Haley Talbot, David Wright and Simone Pathe contributed to this report.