Gov. Kathy Hochul sets date for special election to replace Santos following expulsion

The special election to replace former Rep. George Santos in New York‘s 3rd Congressional District will be held on Feb. 13, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced on Tuesday.

The announcement comes less than a week after Santos was expelled from the House in a 311-114 vote, making him the sixth member to be ousted from the lower chamber in U.S. history. State law mandated Hochul schedule a special election less than 10 days after Santos’s removal, with the election itself happening within 70-80 days of the seat being vacant.

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It’s not yet clear who will be on the ballot for the special election as the process does not include a primary race before the general election is held. Instead, county party leaders from each of the respective parties will choose a nominee to appear on the ballot, and whoever receives the majority vote will carry out the rest of Santos’s term.

County party leaders must declare their intended nominees within 30 days of Hochul’s announcement, giving them until Jan. 4 to name their candidates.

At least 16 candidates have expressed interest in running for Santos’s seat in 2024, with several likely to be tapped for the special election. Among them is former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who held the seat before retiring to launch an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2022.

The race is expected to draw a lot of attention as Democrats eye flipping the seat and narrowing the GOP’s already slim majority. Both parties and their respective candidate committees are already looking at the race and how it will play a role in possibly shifting the balance of power for the remainder of this Congress.

“The NRCC is monitoring the district closely in concert with state and county parties. We will continue to win elections in New York despite the Democrats’ all-out effort to gerrymander their way through weak candidates and extreme policies,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Savannah Viar said in a statement.

Democratic groups are already vowing to get involved with the election, which will take place in a toss-up district. The House Majority PAC, a super PAC dedicated to electing Democrats to the lower chamber, said it plans to “play a significant role” in the special election and “will do whatever it takes to flip this district blue.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also pouncing on Santos’s expulsion, with the party’s main fundraising arm already using his ouster to raise money to flip the seat. The group sent emails shortly after the vote passed soliciting funds to further cut down on the GOP’s House majority.

“Their desperation to protect their slim majority is emblematic of the dysfunction and hypocrisy of MAGA Republicans,” DCCC Chairwoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) said. “The simple truth is George Santos is unfit for Congress, and families across Queens and Nassau County deserve a representative who fights for their community. House Democrats are ready to get to work and take back this seat, moving the House one step closer to delivering for the middle class and working families once more.”

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It is not yet clear whether Democratic leadership will weigh into the election. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to say whether he would endorse a candidate in the primary, telling reporters last week he would wait until the expulsion resolution vote was over to make a decision.

“We’ll be in the hands of the Nassau County Democratic Party and the Queens County Democratic Party, at which point it would be my expectation that there will be some conversations between those two county organizations and stakeholders … to chart the path forward so that New York’s 3rd Congressional District can elect someone who’s actually interested in solving problems,” Jeffries said.