Who voted to expel George Santos? Here’s the count on the House expulsion resolution

Washington — House lawmakers voted to expel GOP Rep. George Santos from Congress on Friday, making him just the sixth member in U.S. history to be ousted by a vote of his colleagues.

The final vote count on the resolution to expel Santos was 311 to 114, far surpassing the two-thirds majority required under the Constitution to succeed. 

Among Republicans, 105 members voted to kick him out, and 112 voted against doing so. Democrats were more united: 206 said he should be ousted, while just two voted against expulsion. (Eight members — three Democrats and five Republicans — did not vote, and two Democrats voted “present.”)

Santos’ tenure on Capitol Hill lasted less than a year and was tainted by scandals that resulted in a slew of federal charges and a damning Ethics Committee report that seemed to convince many of his Republican colleagues that he could no longer serve. Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges and rebuffed calls for him to resign.

How many votes are needed to expel a member of Congress?

Article I, section 5 of the Constitution stipulates that the House and the Senate can expel members if two-thirds of the chamber support doing so.

That two-thirds threshold applies to those voting on any given day, not the total number of members, which can fluctuate if seats are left vacant by resignation or the death of a lawmaker. If all 435 House members had voted on Friday, the magic number for Santos’ expulsion would have been 290, but since eight members missed the vote, the threshold was 285. (The resolution would have passed easily either way.)

Here is the breakdown of the vote on the Santos expulsion resolution, formally known as House Resolution 878, according to the tally kept by the House clerk:

Who voted to expel George Santos from the House?

Who voted to keep Santos in the House?

Who voted “present”?

Who didn’t vote?