The list of people running to oust embattled Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos next year continues to grow as Democrat William Murphy filed to run in the state’s 3rd Congressional District election.
Murphy, 39, is a legal studies professor at St. John’s University, according to his campaign biography. Born in Mineola, Murphy now lives in Farmingdale with his wife, Megan and his 3-year-old son Connor.
Prior to St. John’s, Murphy worked in the courts as a lawyer with a Long Island labor and employment law firm, mostly representing small businesses with legal matters against larger insurance companies. Currently, he said, the 3rd District has no real representation and stressed the importance of electing someone who will end “the disgraceful and embarrassing reality show in D.C.”
“Nobody there is fighting for the rights and values of real people,” Murphy said in a statement. “We deserve better than career politicians without any skin in the game who are driven by ambition, ego, self-interest, or worse. We will put the service back into public service and give people the actual choice they deserve on the ballot.”
Santos’ personal, professional and financial background has come into serious question following an expose released by The New York Times earlier this year. The congressman was caught lying about his education and work experience on a resume he submitted to Republican groups ahead of last year’s election.
Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, newly elected state Sen. Jack Martins and newly elected U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito have been vocal in expressing their complete lack of support for Santos going forward.
Efforts to reach the Nassau County Republican Committee for comment were unavailing.
“He’s disgraced the House of Representatives and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople,” Cairo said at a press conference earlier this year.
The House Ethics Committee launched a formal investigation into Santos last month and will scrutinize his most recent congressional campaign, officials announced.
The committee will determine if Santos failed to properly disclose information and statements to Congress, engaged in sexual misconduct with someone seeking employment in his D.C. office and violated potential federal conflict-of-interest laws.
Santos’ official congressional Twitter account said the newly elected representative “is fully cooperating” in the investigation, but the congressman would not comment on the matter.
Murphy joins Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan as the Democrats who have filed to run against Santos next year. Lafazan ran against Robert Zimmerman, whose name has been included in other potential candidates for the election, last year in the district’s Democratic primary. Zimmerman won the primary but lost to Santos in the general election.
On the Republican side, Santos made his announcement to seek re-election last week, despite his lack of support from local and state Republican groups. A press release on Santos’ stationery described the controversial representative as “a dependable conservative vote in Congress and a fearless champion of conservative values.”
The announcement came in the midst of federal and local investigations into Santos’ personal, professional and financial background.
“I was elected to fulfill my campaign promises of securing our border, lowering the high cost of living, solving the disastrous SALT issue in our tax code, and fighting the Hochul crime crisis of policies empowering criminals to terrorize the people of New York,” Santos said in a statement. “I’ve been in office for 100 days, and through legislation and my votes, I’ve already made significant efforts to honor those promises.”
Republican Kellen Curry has also filed to run in next year’s 3rd District election and discussed the need to bring transparency back to Long Island and Queens.
“What we’re really focusing on right now is making sure that we draw attention to the current state of leadership,” Curry said in an interview two weeks ago. “Quite frankly, nothing happens if we don’t have leadership that we can believe in.”
Curry, a Queens resident who lives just outside the 3rd District, is an Afghanistan war veteran and former vice president at J.P. Morgan. Curry completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan and currently serves in the Air Force Reserves, according to his campaign website.