Did you hear the news?! George Santos has finally been expelled from Congress, and our Bend the Arc chapter on Long Island helped make it happen!

Through op-eds, rallying, phone banking, and lobbying meetings, we made it clear that Santos is unfit to serve in office — and we are thrilled that Congress has finally agreed. Santos's lies and hate-filled rhetoric have never represented Long Island, and as a Bend the Arc chapter with many members in his district, we have been organizing for the last 10 months to show what constituents actually deserve in Congress.

Two of our chapter leaders said it best in their powerful op-ed back in April:

“Because of his lies, the harm he has caused the Jewish community in his district and across the country, the harm he has caused to all of our neighbors in District 3, and the damage he has caused to the office and public trust with which he was entrusted, the House of Representatives must expel him immediately, and allow voters in New York’s 3rd Congressional district to elect someone who will serve them with honesty and integrity.”

Here’s how our Long Island chapter took action together to reach this moment:

• Our leaders penned two powerful op-eds making the case for why we as Jews must oppose Santos.^{1, 2}
• We joined with Empire State Voices, Concerned Citizens of 03, MoveOn, Moms Demand Action, Make the Road, and others to form diverse coalitions across the district, continuing to fight to get Santos expelled.³
• We held lobbying meetings with Democratic members of the NY delegation to encourage them to take action internally in the House to get rid of Santos.
• We organized phonebanks into the Speaker of the House's office to flood the phone lines and bring attention to our district.
• We rallied outside court houses and town halls when Santos was in-district.

And now we can take a moment to celebrate this work!

As Barry said earlier today:

“A grifter, an inveterate liar, and a now indicted con man had the position of House Representative, leaving district NY-3 without any credible representation. Our committee, our chapter, was proud to be part of an allied effort to remove this man, and today we celebrate. At our next meeting, we will discuss our work in the special election. Bravo to all involved!”

Stay tuned for our chapter’s next steps on the special election.

May we go from strength to strength,

Barry & Paula
Co-chairs, Expel Santos committee
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island

Sources:

1. The Jewish Pluralist, The Law Demands that Rep. George Santos be Expelled by Jeanette Walowitz and Paula Frome
2. The Island 360, Readers Write: Santos takes the low road
3. Twitter, Make the Road Action