A Republican-led effort to oust Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress failed Wednesday, allowing the embattled GOP lawmaker to remain in the House despite mounting legal and political troubles.
The chamber voted 179-213-19 on a resolution to oust Santos from office, far short of the two-thirds threshold needed to expel a member of Congress. Twenty-four Republicans voted to expel Santos while 31 Democrats voted to keep him in place. Nineteen lawmakers voted present, 15 of them Democrats.
The vote was an attempt to expel without waiting for due process to run its course. There is an ethics investigation that will wrap up in under 2 weeks.
Many of the democrats who voted not to expel did so because they didn't want to see a new precedent set in congress where the body can expel a member without some form of due process. If all it takes is a vote to eject someone, then the party in power would be able to expell at will, and that would be bad for everyone.
Also, republicans were trying to get rid of him as a publicity stunt to look better for the Nov 2023 elections running across the country and wanted to be able to pull this stunt off to make themselves look better to help their regional elections.
The democrat holdouts are eager to expel just as soon as the ethics investigation is complete. Those holdout democrats are playing 4d chess and winning. They made the right call.
Rep. Jeff Jackson explains it nicely here:
https://youtu.be/QEvUmJ4gpWM?si=UbhtJhGhDrKvcRrJ