There has been little evidence that Mr. Santos had done much campaign work or fund-raising for the contest. Nevertheless, he said he would stay in the race and take his “Ultra MAGA/Trump supporting values to the ballot in November as an independent.”If he does so, he could potentially draw some votes away from Mr. LaLota, which would benefit the undetermined Democratic candidate in a district that Donald J. Trump won by just under 2 points in 2020. Even so, neither Mr. LaLota nor Jesse Garcia, the Suffolk County Republican Party chairman, seemed particularly concerned by Mr. Santos’s threat. “George Santos is irrelevant to the electoral process,” Mr. Garcia said upon hearing the news, adding that the announcement was nothing more than a ploy for attention. Mr. LaLota said in a statement that just as Mr. Santos’s expulsion had been good for the nation, his resignation from the Republican Party was good for “common-sense conservatives.”

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Persons: Santos, Ultra MAGA, Donald J, Trump, LaLota, Jesse Garcia, “ George Santos, Mr, Garcia, Santos’s, ” Organizations: Trump, Democratic, Suffolk County Republican Party, Republican Party Locations: Suffolk