George Santos has announced his departure from New York City following Zohran Mamdani’s electoral triumph.
“I’d rather stick with the devil I know than face the devil I don’t,” Santos declared in his farewell message.
Mamdani achieved a historic milestone by becoming New York City’s first Muslim mayor, garnering over 50% of the vote. He outpaced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who received 41.6%, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who secured 7.1%.
On Wednesday, Santos offered a dramatic interpretation of the election results on X and officially bid farewell to the city.
“Good luck, New York; it was a pleasure knowing you,” said the former Republican congressman, now fallen from grace. “After 37 years, I’m leaving.”
Having recently been released from prison for defrauding donors and misappropriating stolen identities for his campaign, Santos was one of many who threatened to leave Manhattan if Mamdani emerged victorious.
On October 21, he warned on X that if the 34-year-old Democrat takes the crown, New York will be a ‘very dangerous place to live.’
‘Sadly it seems that my family and I will be departing the city I’ve called home my entire life,’ he wrote.
‘NYC will become a very dangerous place to live in if we elect mayor Mamdani and that is a risk I am unwilling to take now that I want to start growing my family,’ he added.
George Santos (pictured) revealed on X that he’s packing up and leaving New York City after Zohran Mamdani’s win and declared: ‘I’d rather the evil I know than the evil I don’t want to know’
Mamdani (pictured) was elected as the city’s first Muslim mayor after securing over 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, surpassing former Governor Andrew Cuomo at 41.6 percent and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa at 7.1 percent
Just minutes after Tuesday’s results, Santos (pictured) rushed to X to blame GOP failure on Sliwa, writing ‘I HATE YOU, your dumb wife, that stupid Beret of yours and all your f***ing cats!’
Just minutes after Tuesday’s results, Santos rushed to X to blame GOP failure on Sliwa – making clear his dislike not only for Sliwa, but also for his family and fashion choices.
‘F*** you Curtis Sliwa. I HATE YOU, your dumb wife, that stupid Beret of yours and all your f***ing cats!’ the jailbird wrote.
Following a brief string of late-night posts, Santos returned to X the next morning with a nearly two-minute video, eventually revealing he was going through with his vow to leave the city.
‘I’m very upset, I don’t take election night well and I know I go really hard,’ he said, emphasizing that there is ‘nothing wrong’ with him being so passionate.
‘What bothers me is when people play stupid games and win stupid prizes and then wonder what happened,’ he added.
‘It’s infuriating because politics and elections are a mathematical simple equation. And unfortunately, for New York, we ignored math.’
Santos compared Sliwa’s campaign to ‘common core math,’ claiming that ‘the rest of us were doing conventional math.’
He described it as a ‘bad example of how delusion, greed, self-aggrandizing and most importantly, the consulting class, put all of that first instead of the people.’
Santos described Sliwa’s (pictured) campaign as a ‘bad example of how delusion, greed, self-aggrandizing and most importantly, the consulting class, put all of that first instead of the people’
Santos highlighted Cuomo’s controversial political history in his video (pictured) but argued that he would have fared better than the new mayor-elect
Cuomo (pictured) declared his bid for mayor in March, only a few years after stepping down in 2021 following a series of sexual harassment allegations – all of which he has denied
Attention turned to Cuomo, who was endorsed for the second time by Donald Trump in a lengthy Truth Social post hours before the election.
‘It is my obligation to run the Nation, and it is my strong conviction that New York City will be a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster should Mamdani win,’ Trump wrote.
‘Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!’ he added.
Santos highlighted Cuomo’s controversial political history in his video but argued that he would have fared better than the new mayor-elect.
Cuomo declared his bid for mayor in March, only a few years after stepping down in 2021 following a series of sexual harassment allegations – all of which he has denied.
‘Cuomo was by far, a flawed candidate. Terrible human being. But much better than what we just landed ourselves with,’ Santos said.
‘I’m sorry if anybody feels offended, hurt, I’m sorry if the truth hurts,’ he added.
The focus shifted back to Sliwa, whom Santos claimed ‘could’ve never won,’ particularly by pointing to his previous campaign efforts.
In the video, Santos claimed Sliwa (pictured) ‘could’ve never won,’ and claimed that ‘he underperformed his 2021 election campaign by a remarkable 24 points’
The surprising move by Trump to commute Santos’s sentence comes about three months after the serial fabulist and onetime drag queen began his seven-year term at a federal prison in New Jersey in July
Santos (pictured) pled guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people’s identities in order to fund his congressional campaign
‘He not only could have never won, he underperformed his 2021 election campaign by a remarkable 24 points,’ Santos said while briefly giggling.
‘He lost 24 percentage points of his 2021 race. So I’m very sorry, but at the same time, not sorry?’ he questioned.
‘I’m really sorry for New Yorkers that Curtis Sliwa couldn’t see what we all saw months ago, and begged him to consider to put himself aside and put the city first.’
Santos then officially said goodbye to New York City.
The surprising move by Trump to commute Santos’s sentence comes about three months after the serial fabulist and onetime drag queen began his seven-year term at a federal prison in New Jersey in July.
‘George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,’ Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.
‘George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!’, the president added.
Santos pled guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people’s identities in order to fund his congressional campaign.
