Republican candidate elected in US admits to lying about education and career in election campaign

Republican candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District George Santos campaigns outside a Stop and Shop store
Republican candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District George Santos. Credit: AP

A Republican candidate elected in the US has admitted to lying about his education and career during his successful campaign for a seat in the US House.

George Santos, Republican elect for New York's 3rd Congressional District, admitted on Monday that he had embellished his resume, after a newspaper raised questions over his past.

In an interview with the New York Post, Mr Santos said: “My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry.

"I campaigned talking about the people’s concerns, not my resume," he added. "I intend to deliver on the promises I made during the campaign."

Lying on your CV is actually illegal in the UK under the Fraud Act 2006, but this does not apply in the US.

The New York Times newspaper raised questions last week about the life story of George Santos. Credit: AP

The New York Times raised questions last week about the life story that Mr Santos, 34, had presented during his campaign.

The Queens resident had said he had obtained a degree from Baruch College in New York, but the school said that couldn’t be confirmed.

On Monday, Mr Santos said: “I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume. I own up to that."

He added: "We do stupid things in life.”

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Mr Santos had also said he had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but neither company could find any records verifying that.

The Republican elect told the Post he had “never worked directly” for either financial firm, saying he had used a “poor choice of words.”

He told the Post that Link Bridge, an investment company where he was a vice president, did business with both.

Another news outlet, Jewish-American site The Forward, had questioned a claim on Mr Santos' campaign website that his grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during World War Two.”

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Mr Santos told the Post.

“I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

Mr Santos first ran for Congress in 2020 and lost. He ran again in 2022 and won in the district that includes some Long Island suburbs and a small part of Queens, New York.

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