Dear MoveOn member,

By now, we’ve all heard the news that George Santos was finally expelled
from Congress on Friday.^1 This is a huge victory for New York 3rd
District residents, who are finally free from a lying lawmaker who cheated
the system to pad his own pockets, and for everyone who values integrity
and democracy in this country.

And it’s no coincidence that last Tuesday, just days before Congress would
vote to expel Santos, MoveOn flew a 15-foot George Santos inflatable
balloon in front of the Capitol, with a tie that said “full of lies."^2
The goal of the balloon was to demonstrate grassroots opposition to George
Santos in a key, high-stakes moment and to bring national attention to the
demand for Congress to expel him immediately. And that’s exactly what
happened.

More than 100 media outlets mentioned MoveOn’s balloon in light of the
House vote to expel George Santos. As reported by [ [link removed] ]The New York Times,
[ [link removed] ]The Washington Post, [ [link removed] ]The Boston Globe, [ [link removed] ]Washingtonian, [ [link removed] ]People
magazine, and more, MoveOn capitalized on the spectacle around Santos to
further damage his reputation and raise the stakes surrounding his
expulsion. We even reached more than 50 broadcast and radio stations—from
Kansas to [ [link removed] ]Santos’s own backyard in New York—making it clear across the
country that Santos has no place in Congress.

George Santos is just the sixth House member to ever be expelled from
Congress, which required two-thirds of Congress to approve.^3 His
expulsion came a few weeks after the House Ethics Committee released a
report revealing the myriad of laws he broke, including illegal usage of
campaign donations for luxury vacations, spas, Botox, and more. The
scathing report concluded that “Representative Santos sought to
fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own
personal financial profit."^4

Constituents from Santos’s district, NY-03, have been relentlessly
rallying, lobbying, and advocating for Congress to hold Santos accountable
for his lies and fraud. For nearly a year, they had no meaningful
representation in Congress.

MoveOn got involved in the fight to oust Santos early in 2023, just a few
weeks after the news broke about the lies he told about his religion,
education, and other personal information to get elected. In February,
dozens of NY-03 MoveOn members and partners delivered a petition to his
Long Island office, with 100,000 signatures demanding George Santos resign
or be expelled. And just a few weeks later, MoveOn planned a "Drive Santos
Out" constituent caravan with partners that made its way through the
district and received TV, radio, and newspaper coverage across the region
to demonstrate constituent opposition.

Before this most recent vote, Congress had voted twice on whether to expel
Santos from Congress and failed both times. Even this time, after being
charged with 23 indictments and the damning House Ethics Committee report,
GOP leadership still voted to keep Santos in Congress.^5 Santos escaped
accountability for far too long, with protection from his MAGA colleagues,
who kept him in office so they could hold on to their majority and power
in Congress. But ultimately, we won. And will we keep winning when we come
together to demand justice and accountability for those who serve
themselves instead of the people they are supposed to represent.

Thanks for all you do.

–Kelsey, Alexis, Gabi, Kathy and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "The House expels Rep. George Santos. An ethics report had accused him
of breaking federal law," AP News, December 1, 2023
[link removed]

2. "An Inflatable George Santos Flopped Around the National Mall Tuesday,"
Washingtonian, November 28, 2023
[link removed]

3. "House expels GOP Rep. George Santos over ethics violations," CNN,
December 1, 2023
[link removed]

4. "Botox, fake loans and lies: Key takeaways from House Ethics
investigation into George Santos," CNN, November 16, 2023
[link removed] 

5. "Santos vote sparks new GOP fury with leadership," Politico, December
1, 2023
[link removed]



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