Amid 2024 fundraising, FEC asks Santos to clarify if will run for reelection

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has sent a letter to Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) asking if he plans to run for reelection in 2024 as the congressman’s campaign reported tens of thousands of dollars in contributions and expenditures since November’s election. 

The FEC asked Santos to respond by March 14 about if he plans to run because his campaign reported almost $28,000 in contributions and almost $43,000 in expenses in roughly the last month of 2022 in a filing it sent in January. 

Potential candidates are required under federal law to declare their candidacy to the FEC if they take in or spend more than $5,000 for an election. 

“You must either disavow these activities by notifying the Commission in writing that you are not a candidate, or redesignate your principal campaign committee by filing a Statement of Candidacy [FEC Form 2] within [35] days from the date of this letter,” the FEC said to Santos. 

ABC reported that newly elected officials often raise more than $5,000 shortly after an election to pay off debts or build up funds for an upcoming race. But Santos didn’t note any debt for his campaign in the filing last month. 

A Santos spokesperson declined to comment to ABC on the report. 

The FEC declined to comment beyond forwarding the notice sent to Santos.

The intense scrutiny surrounding Santos over the wide range of false statements he made about his background has continued throughout his first month in Congress. 

He said in an interview with One America News earlier this month that he learned his lesson from the situation, but a group of Santos’s constituents and two Democratic House members gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to call for Santos to resign. 

A former aide for Santos accused the congressman of sexual harassment while he worked in Santos’s office, a claim that Santos has denied. 

Santos also sparred with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Tuesday after Romney told him that he should not have positioned himself near the center of the House aisle for the State of the Union address, later saying that Santos should not be in Congress.

Updated at 8:36 a.m.