San Antonio-Austin Rep. Chip Roy votes against expelling George Santos

Lying about 9/11, the Holocaust and one’s employment history may qualify as bad behavior, but it’s apparently not bad enough to disqualify you serving in Congress — or so we’re to glean from a Friday vote by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy.

In a historic move, 311 members of Congress voted to expel New York Republican Rep. George Santos from the U.S. House of Representatives. Roy — a Republican whose district includes parts of Austin and the Alamo City — was the sole member of San Antonio’s delegation to cast his lot against expulsion.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro, Greg Casar and Henry Cuellar all voted to send Santos packing, as did U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, who joined 105 Republicans who crossed the aisle. Santos became the sixth House member in history so removed.

Roy was among 110 Republicans and two Democrats who voted to keep Santos in Congress. Neither Roy nor his press office offered an explanation for his vote via their accounts on X, formerly Twitter,

In case anyone needs a refresher, Santos was elected during the 2022 election cycle to represent New York’s 3rd District. However, it wasn’t long before media reports revealed that the candidate had built his campaign on a web of embellishments and outright lies.

Santos initially said he was Jewish and that his grandparents had escaped the Holocaust. That he was a graduate of New York University and that his mother had died in 9/11. He also claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs and reported a net worth of $11 million.

None of those claims turned out to be true.

Santos is set to go to trial next year for 23 federal counts of campaign fraud and identity theft involving his campaign. Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

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This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 12, 2023.