MACON, Ga. — U.S. Rep. George Santos was ousted from the House of Representatives in a 311 to 114 vote after a House Ethics Committee report found "substantial evidence" that Santos broke the law.
The bipartisan effort — which included eight Georgia representatives — cleared the 2/3 majority need to remove the New York representatives from Congress, making Santos only the sixth person to be ousted from the House.
Across Congress, just over 51% of the Republican caucus voted against Santos. Georgia Republicans voted roughly in line with the party. Around 55% of Georgia's Republican representatives voted to oust the New York congressman.
Democrats nearly unanimously voted to remove Santos from office with only two Democratic congresspeople voting against removing Santos. That's only 0.9% of the Democratic caucus voting to keep Santos in Congress.
However, of those two Democrats who voted for keeping Santos, one of the votes was cast by a Georgia representative who serves as a leader in the state's Democratic Party.
Here's how the 14 members of Georgia's Congressional delegation voted in the historic vote to oust Rep. George Santos.
Republican lawmakers
Austin Scott, 8th district: Yes
Rick Allen, 12th district: Yes
Buddy Carter, 1st district: Yes
Andrew Clyde, 9th district: No
Mike Collins, 10th district: No
Drew Ferguson, 3rd district: Yes
Marjorie Taylor Greene, 14th district: No
Barry Loudermilk, 11th district: No
Rich Mccormick, 6th district: No
Democratic lawmakers
Stanford Bishop, 2nd district: Yes
Hank Johnson, 3rd district: Yes
Lucy McBath, 7th district: Yes
Davis Scott, 13th district: Yes
Nikema Williams, 5th district: No
Reaction:
On social media and in press releases, some members of the Georgia congressional delegation explained why they voted the way they did.
"George Santos' conduct is beneath the Office of Representatives," Republican Rep. Carter, who covers the coast of Georgia, said on the platform X, previously known as Twitter. "If he walked in the private sector, he'd have been fired months ago.
"I voted yes on Santos' expulsion to preserve the integrity of Congress in the wake of his dishonesty and fraudulent actions. We The People deserve better," he said.
Most members of Central Georgia's congressional delegation like Reps. Scott and Bishop voted against keeping Santos in office.
However, Republican Rep. Mike Collins — who covers Athens and some of Central Georgia — voted no because he believes Santos' constituents should decide whether to remove him.
"I will not vote to alter precedent and circumvent the will of the People," Collins said on X.
In the five other cases where a member of the House was removed from office, the vote to remove the House member after they were convicted of a crime or during the Civil War for "disloyalty to the union."
"The voters of NY-03 have the sole right to choose who represents them in Congress, just like the voters of GA-10," Collins said. "Let me know when the House can get back to focusing on securing the border and drilling oil on American soil."
Rep. Williams, a Democrat from Atlanta who serves as chair of Georgia's Democratic Party, was one of two Democrats to vote against removing Santos from office.
We asked William's office about why she voted against ousting Santos.
"George Santos is not worthy of serving in the House of Representatives," Williams said. "He will likely be convicted of the crimes of which he was accused. This is the People's House — and although the House Ethics Committee findings were damning, the people of New York's Third Congressional District should decide who represents them. I'll always side on giving power to the voters."