George Santos is ousted from the House. A Kentuckian once met the same fate.
George Santos joined the short list of expelled congressmen on Friday, becoming the sixth in U.S. history.
But a Kentuckian came long before him, 162 years ago.
Henry Burnett, who represented Western Kentucky in the 1800s, was ousted by his House colleagues for disloyalty to the Union as a supporter of the confederacy. A colonel in the confederacy, Burnett openly called on Kentucky to breakaway and advocated for armed resistance against the Union.
Santos’ misdeeds weren’t a threat to the nation’s survival, but the drama surrounding his sea of untruths led nearly half of the Republican conference to turn against him.
Four of Kentucky’s five Republican House members – including Lexington’s Andy Barr and Monroe County’s James Comer – cast their votes to remove Santos, with only Rep. Thomas Massie voting against expulsion.
Rep. Morgan McGarvey, the commonwealth’s lone Democrat in Congress, also voted to expel him.
The total vote was not close. It was 311-114 in favor of removal. Just two Democrats opposed the resolution.
It’s only the third expulsion from the lower chamber of Congress since the Civil War and it is the first time a member has been removed without first being convicted of a crime or supporting the confederacy, as Burnett had.
“I voted against the resolution to expel Representative George Santos, but the measure garnered at least ⅔’s of the votes in the House and he is now no longer a member of Congress,” Massie, who was seen chatting with Santos in the back of the chamber on Friday sharing laughs, said in a post to X Friday.
Santos, who was elected in New York in 2022, was accused of fabricating many biographical details as a candidate, including his work, family history and education. He’s been charged by prosecutors with fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements, totaling 23 felonies, of which he’s pleaded not guilty to.
“To hell with this place,” Santos uttered to reporters in the aftermath on Capitol Hill.
In the fall of 1861 before his own December removal, Burnett declared that expulsion was a “badge of honor,” denouncing the union government as “a tyranny.” In 1862, he made a speech in Richmond, Virginia to the Confederate Congress in which he urged more aggressive action against the Union and denounced Kentucky’s governor Beriah Magoffin as a “traitor.”
Santos’ removal sets up a special election for the Long Island vacancy. State law instructs the election to occur within 90 days and eight Republicans and six Democrats have already lined up for the seat.
