George Santos' recent indictment puts U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a no-win situation: analyst
CTV
New York Republican Congressman George Santos' recent indictment puts U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in an untenable position as he faces governing challenges and rough political terrain in 2024, writes political analyst Eric Ham in his latest column for CTVNews.ca.
New York Republican Congressman George Santos was recently indicted in a U.S. federal courtroom on 13 charges ranging from wire fraud and money laundering and lying to Congress. His battle to stay out of prison has just begun and time will tell if he is victorious.
However, his legal predicament has boxed House Republican leadership in on all sides, with no hope of coming out of this political quagmire unscathed. U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has announced that he will not be calling for Santos' resignation as he mounts a legal defence against the slew of charges brought before him.
This follows a pattern previous members of Congress have faced when confronted with criminal indictment. In fact, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez continues to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while under criminal investigation. He also served in the upper chamber during his trial on corruption charges, a case that saw him acquitted due to a hung jury.
What makes the Santos situation different is that while House Republican leadership supports the congressman remaining a member of the lower chamber, rank-and-file members, including Republican lawmakers, are loudly calling for the freshman’s ouster.
Speaker McCarthy’s caucus currently holds a very narrow four-seat majority in the House of Representatives. Removing Santos reduces an already-slim lead and makes the challenging job of corralling votes even more difficult. Moreover, through a record 15 votes to determine the Speaker of the House, Representative-elect Santos supported McCarthy’s candidacy on every single vote. Santos has been and still remains a loyal and concrete vote for McCarthy’s agenda.
Most recently, the Republican-backed legislation to raise the debt ceiling barely passed with backing from Congressman Santos. McCarthy’s majority, much like his speakership, is hanging by the slimmest thread and he can ill afford to lose any votes, let alone any members. Therefore, calling for Santos' resignation or forcing such a move would be politically unwise for House Republican leadership.
However, looking ahead to the 2024 elections, control of the lower chamber will be up for grabs and Santos' indictment is a dark cloud that will loom over the entire House Republican caucus. Yet no members are impacted more than newly elected Republicans from the New York area who, like Santos, flipped seats from Democrat to Republican in 2022, which gave control to Republicans, granting McCarthy the gavel he so eagerly coveted.
