Refunded Donors Are Ruining George Santos’ Dream of a Second Term

In general, I don’t cheer on any millennial experiencing a financial setback in America. We’ve suffered enough, dammit! However, I make an exception for New York Congressman George Santos because that guy sucks. Let’s not forget he’s been arrested for crimes related to his office, some specifically revolving around political campaign contributions, and he has a trial coming up. Also, he’s a liar who’s bad at his job. Which normally wouldn’t matter but his job happens to be government, and, well, I take that personally.

If you’re like me and have been actively cheering on Santos’ downfall, I have good news: his re-election campaign is now in the negative due to donors requesting refunds. We know this because the latest campaign data has been released courtesy of the FEC.

On the one hand, if you’re dumb enough to donate to Santos’ campaign despite ample evidence suggesting that this man is, at best, a crooked crook who crooks, you deserve what you get. On the other hand, anything that sets this nuisance of a human being back from his goal of getting re-elected to office for a second term is a net positive, so let’s go with that. Per Politico:

Santos’ campaign refunded more than $35,000 to donors between July and September while taking in only $1,704 in new donations, according to his latest campaign finance report. His campaign also spent more than $42,000 over the period, $20,000 of which was classified as legal expenses. That left him with less than $23,000 in his campaign account.

OK, first off, who is still donating to George Santos after his arrest for campaign finance fraud?! I like to think it’s just one person who enjoys literally setting their money on fire, and since they were all out of matches, they decided donating to Santos’ campaign was the next best thing.

In addition to being in the red for donations, the Santos campaign also disclosed that they have an additional six figures in debt from the first campaign that up until now, they had failed to disclose. Genuinely, how is everyone on Santos’ team so bad at what they do? Per Politico:

The filing also for the first time disclosed more than $120,000 owed to vendors seemingly dating back to 2022 for expenses including election night catering and a “mail fundraising” program. Campaigns are allowed to take on such debts, but they are supposed to be reported on the filing for that quarter as well as every subsequent filing. A line in Sunday’s report said Santos’ current treasurer only became “aware of prior debt in the current period.” His treasurer did not immediately respond to an inquiry about when the debt was incurred.

If you’re wondering whether political rivals are chomping at the bit to go in for the kill on Santos’ seat in the House of Representatives, the answer is clearly yes. This is delicious because obviously campaigns need money in order to promote their candidate, and as the recent data demonstrates, Santos has basically none:

A host of challengers have jumped in to run against Santos in the Long Island district which also voted for Biden in 2020. The campaign of Kellen Curry, the only Republican challenger who has filed with the FEC so far, said it raised $149,000 in the third quarter.

Among Santos’ Democratic challengers are Nassau County legislator Joshua Lafazan, former State Senator Anna Kaplan and activist Zak Malamed, all of whom had outraised Santos through the end of the second quarter.

Former Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who vacated the seat Santos flipped Republican and won, is also entering the race. According to the Politico article, he had $58,000 left in his own campaign account from when he previously ran for the seat. You’ll note that’s nearly double what the Santos campaign currently has.

I love the irony that Santos is so bad at his job that his own campaign coffers are in the negative, but his utter incompetence and general shadiness have been a boon for everyone else’s fundraising efforts. My only word of advice here is if someone named “Shorge Shantos” enters the race and asks for a political donation, you should think twice about donating. That’s probably you-know-who looking to capitalize on the anti-Santos fundraising bonanza.

(featured image: Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images)