Reps. Emmer, Finstad & Fischbach vote against expelling Rep. George Santos
MINNEAPOLIS — Of the eight U.S. Representatives from Minnesota casting their votes in Friday's expulsion of Rep. George Santos, three of them voted against his ouster.
Minnesota's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives is eight, in total, and they're evenly split between Republican Party members and Democratic Party members.
On Friday, three of the four Republican members voted against removing Santos from Congress: Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad and Michelle Fischbach. The fourth Republican member of the delegation. Rep. Pete Stauber, voted in favor of Santos' expulsion.
Three Minnesota Democrats voted to remove Santos — Reps. Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, and Ilhan Omar — but the fourth Democrat, Rep. Dean Phillips, did not vote in Friday's proceedings. Phillips is currently pursuing a primary challenge against incumbent President Joe Biden.
Minnesota DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin called out Finstad's vote in particular, saying, "It is embarrassing that Brad Finstad would vote to keep George Santos in Congress despite the scathing bipartisan ethics report confirming the overwhelming evidence of his unethical and criminal conduct. Over 100 of Brad Finstad's Republican colleagues recognized that George Santos was unfit to serve, but he turned a blind eye."
Among Wisconsin's delegation, two Republicans — Bryan Steil and Glenn Grothman — joined the state's two Democratic Party representatives in voting in favor of removing Santos. The remaining four Republican Party representatives voted against it.
In all, House lawmakers voted 311 to 114 in favor of the expulsion resolution, including 105 Republicans who voted for it. Two Democrats voted against expelling Santos.
Dozens of Santos' colleagues were apparently swayed by a damning report from the House Ethics Committee released two weeks ago that found there was "substantial evidence" that Santos repeatedly broke the law. Santos brazenly embellished his biography to win his seat in Congress last year and now faces nearly two dozen federal charges related to alleged fraud and illegal use of campaign funds.
The bipartisan vote makes Santos just the sixth House member in U.S. history to be expelled and the first in more than 20 years. Rep. James Traficant was removed from office in 2002 after being convicted of 10 corruption-related felonies.
Santos has said he would wear his expulsion "like a badge of honor."