Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

George Santos received donations from only three residents in his district

The third district is the wealthiest in New York and the fourth-wealthiest in the country

Gustaf Kilander
Washington, DC
Wednesday 19 July 2023 10:35 EDT
Comments
Related video: Man shouts ‘you killed my dog’ at George Santos as protestors chant outside court

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Only three residents of Representative George Santos’s Long Island, New York district have donated to the freshman Republican since the beginning of the year, filings with the Federal Election Commission show.

And in the whole of New York State, only about 25 people have donated to Mr Santos, according to filings sent in for the first and second quarters, ending on 15 April and 15 July.

The overwhelming majority of the more than $6,000 coming from district residents were donated by one individual.

The details of the Santos donors were first reported by the Daily Dot and later verified by The Independent.

Donors have to share their address when sending money to a candidate, with the donors to Mr Santos living in Carle Place, Great Neck, and Sea Cliff.

While few are donating to the congressman, many of his constituents have funds to share if willing to do so.

The third district is the wealthiest district in New York and the fourth-wealthiest in the country, according to Forbes.

Several of the donors to Mr Santos do live on Long Island, just not in the third district.

Before and after entering after, Mr Santos has been enveloped in plenty of scandals. A poll released in January found that 78 per cent of voters in his district think he should leave his post, according to Siena College.

This includes 71 per cent of Republicans.

Its poll director, Don Levy, said at the time that “NY 3 voters overwhelmingly and unambiguously say Rep. Santos should resign. Whether you look it at by party, gender, race, age, religion, income, or which county the voters live in, the answer is the same: resign”.

“Similarly, voters of every party and every demographic breakdown know who Santos is, are following the news about Santos, and view Santos unfavourably,” he added.

The filings also show that Mr Santos took $85,000 from his campaign to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars that he loaned to himself as he campaigned last year. During the last three months, Mr Santos received $138,000.

Mr Santos has been charged with a litany of financial crimes, such as embezzling money from his campaign.

The filings revealed that he spent $118,000, most of which on repaying the more than $700,000 that he loaned to himself to win in 2022.

Meanwhile, fellow Republican and challenger to Mr Santos, Kellen Curry, a veteran of the Afghanistan war and a former banker at JP Morgan, raised more than $200,000 and spent $36,000, according to the AP.

The leading Democrat aiming to take down Mr Santos next year, Nassau County legislator Joshua Lafazan, has raised more than $345,000.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in