Dem
51
GOP
49
New York Democrats would very much like to take back the House districts in the state that were won by Joe Biden, but that are currently represented by a Republican in Congress. That means that the blue team would very much like to send Reps. Nick LaLota, Anthony D'Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams into retirement.
It could be that, once Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) finds a judge who can actually pass muster with the state Senate, then the New York Court of Appeals will allow the Democratic-controlled state legislature to re-gerrymander the district maps to their heart's content. But that's going to take a while, and it's hardly a sure thing. After all, if you give yourself virtually no margin for error (which was the plan), then you're at risk of taking a beating if there's even a moderate red wave. So, instead of leaving things to chance, the Democrats are going to do their best to leverage the least popular representative in the state, namely Rep. "George Santos" (R-NY).
It is rather common for congressional candidates to build alliances with each other by donating to each other's campaigns. And guess what? All five of the Biden-district Republicans got donations from "Santos." Whether those donations were in U.S. dollars or Monopoly money is not known. But, in any case, the New York Democratic Party has launched a billboard campaign that asks the question "Will you give the donation back?"
This strikes us as a no-brainer; "Santos" is subject to the same campaign finance limits as anyone else, and it's just not worth having him as an anchor around one's neck in exchange for less than $6,000 in campaign funding. That said, even if the quintet gives the money back, it's probable that the next set of billboards will be "Will you support expelling him from Congress?" So, this could be a slippery slope.
Not coincidentally, LaLota is already loudly calling for "Santos" to be expelled. After all, LaLota (and his four colleagues) undoubtedly would like the GOP to have as big a majority as possible, but they are even more concerned with protecting their own seats. That said, it takes two-thirds of the members for an expulsion, and so the Democrats plus the five New York Republicans would be a majority but it wouldn't be enough to do the job. So, if LaLota & Co. take damage from being associated with their phony colleague, there may not be much they can do about it. (Z)