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Expulsion resolutions

In May 2023, after Santos was indicted on federal charges, Robert Garcia and other House Democrats introduced a resolution to expel Santos from the House, which requires a two-thirds vote, or 290 votes, in favor. Because an expulsion motion is privileged, the Republican House leadership was required to either schedule a vote within two legislative days, table the proposal or refer it to the Ethics Committee. They introduced a motion to send the resolution to the Ethics Committee.

The House approved the motion by 221–204 along party lines; seven Democrats voted “present”. After Santos was indicted on additional charges in October, D’Esposito introduced a second expulsion resolution, cosponsored by the other five Republican House freshmen from New York. After Rep. Mike Johnson was elected Speaker, the sponsors moved to force a floor vote on the resolution.

On November 1, the expulsion motion failed 213–179, with 19 voting present. Support was mostly from Democrats, joined by 24 Republicans, while 31 Democrats joined Republicans in opposing. California Rep. Katie Porter, one of those 31, believed that it was wrong to expel Santos before his case had been disposed in the courts. Santos said the result was a victory for due process and dismissed the resolution as a political stunt by his colleagues anxious about their re-election prospects in 2024.

In the wake of the Ethics Committee’s report on Santos two weeks later, Garcia announced he would introduce another expulsion resolution, with the expectation that it would be voted on after the Thanksgiving recess. It was seen as possible that some of the representatives who had voted against expelling Santos previously would reconsider their positions in the wake of the report. One, Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, said he would vote to expel, as “[t]he report’s findings are extremely damning”.

Rep. Michael Guest, chair of the Ethics Committee, introduced an expulsion resolution of his own after the report was released. Over the holiday recess, Santos said on an X Space that he expected to be expelled the following week when Congress returned. He said he would “wear it like a badge of honor”, called Guest a “pussy” and said that no one from Mississippi was going to push a New Yorker out of Congress. Santos said it was hypocritical of the House to expel him.

On December 1, the House voted to pass Guest’s resolution to expel Santos, 311–114. Specifically, 206 Democrats and 105 Republicans voted for the resolution, with two Democrats and 112 Republicans voting against his expulsion.

Ten Representatives did not vote, with two voting present and the rest absent. He is the sixth member of the House to be expelled, the only Republican, and the only member expelled without first being convicted of a federal crime or having supported the Confederacy.

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