For Nassau County Leg. Josh Lafazan, Lying Millennial George Santos in Congress is Personal
Since the New York Times’ bombshell Dec. 19, 2022 article exposed Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) as a liar, Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan (I-Woodbury) has held 17 rallies and news conferences, many of them outside the congressman’s Douglaston, Queens office, calling on Santos to resign.
That’s more than one rally per week, meaning that – at least to the public eye – Lafazan is putting more time and energy into getting Santos out of office than any other elected official.
“No matter how long it takes, no matter where we have to go, I will not stop until George Santos is gone,” Lafazan told the Press in an interview.
“Of course I’m so personally offended as a lawmaker for 11 years that this person demeans Long Island and the House of Representatives,” he added. “But what it comes down to is my constituents have been calling my phone every single day outraged. It’s not only personal but it’s my responsibility as a lawmaker.”
Lafazan has worked with a diverse group of his Long Island constituents who agree that Santos needs to go. The 29-year-old county lawmaker, whose legislative district falls within 34-year-old Santos’ congressional district NY-03, last year ran a primary race for Democratic candidacy for the seat and lost to Robert Zimmerman, who went on to lose to Santos in November 2022.
At 18 years old, Lafazan ran a successful campaign for a seat on Syosset School District’s Board of Education that launched his career in public service. He later became the youngest person ever elected to the Nassau County Legislature at age 23.
For Lafazan, a fellow millennial who graduated from Harvard and Cornell, those facts bring to light both the personal and political nature of his motives.
“When I got elected to the Board of Education at 18, every single statistic, every single quote, everything I did was double- and triple-fact checked because I knew there would be scrutiny because of my age,” Lafazan told the Press. “Having served 11 years in office, having taken such painstaking measures to ensure my integrity, to have this charlatan and fraud waltz in and demean the very institution he serves … I cannot wait until he’s gone.”
Lafazan notes that the most egregious lie he’s heard from Santos is that his grandparents survived the Holocaust, another personal sting for Lafazan, who says his grandfather was a Holocaust refugee. “To see George Santos manipulate the emotions of Jewish voters for his own gain is so disgusting,” Lafazan said.
When asked if he would run for the open seat should Santos resign or be removed from Congress, Lafazan said he would only “talk politics” if the seat opened up. Santos is currently under a House Ethics Committee investigation and review by several other government agencies.
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