Santos commits to protecting American dream

This isn’t George Santos’s first bid for a congressional run. He ran unsuccessfully in 2020 against Tom Suozzi to represent the third district, which includes the north shore. This time Suozzi won’t be running, having lost the Democratic primary for governor. 

Born and raised by immigrant parents, Santos decided to keep his base in his hometown, Queens. His grandparents, who were Jewish, fled persecution in Ukraine settling in Belgium. They fled persecution again during World War II, moving to Brazil. Santos’s mother and father were both born in Brazil. And they both immigrated to the United States. 

Part of the reason he’s running, Santos said is because of his past.  “I am running to protect the American dream,” he explained. “I’m a product of it and my parents came in search of it.”

Another reason is because fresh ideas and new leadership are needed in Washington. The next generation needs representation, he said. They need to have the same opportunities Americans have had in the past.

“I have a moral obligation to run,” he said. “I need to protect the dream.”

He’d like to make it possible for young people to live in New York, where the cost of living alone makes it hard for them to stay.

“One party rule is a problem,” he said, referring to the Democrats. “There is no American dream when crime is rampant as it is in the state of New York. A dream shouldn’t be scary.”

His lament is a familiar one. When asked what he can do that other elected leaders haven’t tried he answered quickly. “Most of the people who have represented the third district in the last two decades were career politicians,” he explained. “I’d be the first one who isn’t.”

A Wall Street financier and investor who has focused on capital markets and real estate, Santos said he gets things done. And he’s able to think outside the box. “I want to bring that skillset to Congress and make sure that New York state is held accountable for defunding the police and high taxes,” he said. “I’m not an empty suit with words. I came from nothing and built my career from scratch.”

He's interested in discussing real issues, he added, like inflation and the skyrocketing cost of gas and home heating fuel. 

“Legislative bills should hold states accountable on how they tax,” he said. “There are careless budgets in all school districts. They refuse to clear out the redundancies.”

If it were up to Santos, superintendents would be responsible for more than one school district, which would be a great savings, he said. And the school board could step in to lead the district. 

“We need to reduce government from the local level to the top,” Santos said. “Making government smaller would reduce taxes. People are getting hit over the head with taxes.”

If elected, on day one he will hit the ground running with a plan to set the tone for Congress. He’d introduce a bill that mandates a 100 percent ban on congressional members and their families from trading individual stocks. This would take self-interest away, he explained. 

His second plan as a congressman would be to end the war on energy reasoning that the cleanest place to extract oil is in the United States. 

“We need to restart the Keystone Pipeline construction,” Santos said. “It will bring jobs back. Forty thousand direct and indirect jobs were lost with the stroke of a pen from Biden’s decision.”

And he said elected leaders should be committed to their constituency. “People run for office and win, and they become the hardest person to get a hold of,” Santos said. “I want to be so accessible people get sick of seeing me. That’s the only way to represent them.”