EXCLUSIVE: George Santos on Why He Raised $0 for Comeback Campaign
The former lawmaker tells me he's "setting the standard" for how campaigns should act
Ex-Congressman George Santos is running into a new hurdle in his attempt to return to Congress: a completely empty campaign account, but he told me he has a good reason for raising $0.
Following a story in Politico about how the former representative hasn’t raised a dime, he said that he has a simple explanation: he won’t raise any money until he clears the hurdles to get on the ballot.
“I will not be raising a single dime until I’m confirmed in [sic] the ballot,” the colorful New Yorker said. “Unlike many in the media speculating I’m only running to ‘grift,’ I’m setting the standard that only confirmed ballot access candidates should raise money.”
While Santos was expelled from Congress, that hasn’t stopped him from mounting an attempted comeback for this November–albeit in a different district than the one he represented. Santos was running a primary campaign against his then-fellow Republican, Congressman Nick LaLota, who led the campaign to expel him from Congress, before he quit the GOP entirely and announced plans to run as an independent.
Meanwhile, the race in Santos’s old district was roiled when Barstool Sports’s Billy Football announced his plans to run as a Republican. Bill Cotter, like Santos, is running into some hurdles they view as being placed in their way by the oft-maligned establishment.
Cotter sees his primary as being rigged in favor of Mike LiPetri–he consequently hosted a press conference featuring all of the Republicans running, except LiPetri, at one of the county GOP headquarters to oppose the establishment “denying Democracy and [using] dirty tactics.”
Assuming Santos gets on the ballot, raising money won’t necessarily be a walk in the park. Politico noted that “Santos’ campaign committee from his previous congressional run also filed a report on Monday, continuing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Its latest report showed only a handful of small donations, while refunding $21,000 to donors.”
It’s never a boring day in the Big Apple!