NASHVILLE — Most Tennessee and Georgia Republican U.S. House members, including Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Marjorie Taylor Greene, voted Friday against expelling GOP Rep. George Santos after an ethics committee report alleged misuse of campaign contributions.
But the bipartisan effort to expel the colorful but controversial New Yorker was successful with a 311-114 vote, with those voting to oust the freshman New York lawmaker including several Tennessee and Georgia Republicans.
A House Ethics Committee investigation found Santos routinely used campaign funds for personal expenses. The expulsion vote met the chamber’s two-thirds requirement for ouster.
Two of Tennessee’s eight House Republican lawmakers, Reps. Mark Green of Ashland City and John Rose of Cookeville, voted to give Santos the boot, helping make him just the sixth person in U.S. history expelled from the legislative body. Also voting to expel Santos was Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis, the nine-member delegation’s lone Democrat.
Four Republican congressmen from Georgia also voted to expel Santos.