When Republican George Santos filed to run for Congress in New York’s 3rd Congressional District on Long Island, his profile seemed like a perfect fit in a city that leans decidedly liberal. He ticked all of the demographic boxes. He was young, gay, and Jewish. His grandmother had escaped the holocaust, moving to America for a new life. He had experience in the corporate world, having worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He was a graduate of Baruch College, an affiliate of CUNY. What’s not to like?

Santos went on to win a nail-biter of an election, riding the red mini-wave that swept over New York State. But as it turned out, pretty much everything I pointed to above from his resume turned out to be a lie. The New York Post finally caught up to him this week and got him to come clean. And Democrats in New York are asking how nobody managed to figure this out during the campaign.

Long Island Rep.-elect George Santos came clean to The Post on Monday, admitting that he lied on the campaign trail about his education and work experience — but insisting that the controversy won’t deter him from serving out his two-year term in Congress.

“I am not a criminal,” Santos said at one point during his exclusive interview. “This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”

Santos’s professional biography was called into question earlier this month after the New York Times reported that he misrepresented a number of claims, including where he attended college and his alleged employment history with high-profile Wall Street firms.

Where do we even begin with this laundry list of falsehoods? Santos admitted that he “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, instead working at a firm that “did business” with those companies. He said he needed “to be clearer” about his work history in the future and that the claim had been “stated poorly.”

As for his college degree, that never happened. He said he “didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning.” This was written off as “embellishing” his resume. He’s also not Jewish. He is “clearly Catholic” (his words) but he remembers his grandmother “telling stories about being Jewish.” Amazingly, he told the Post that since his family came from a Jewish background, “I said I was `Jew-ish.’” Apparently, the hyphen is silent.

He also has some peculiar habits for a gay guy. Specifically, he was married to a woman until two years ago. But he assured the reporters that he’s now “very much gay.” So… okay, then.

How did George Santos make it over the finish line before all of this information came to light? The general consensus among New York Democrats seems to be that it’s a matter of timing. You see, Santos ran for this seat in 2020 against Democrat Tom Suozzi. It was obvious that Santos was going to get his clock cleaned and he did, losing by roughly 20 points. He was basically little more than a placeholder name on the ballot for the Republicans, so nobody really bothered vetting him or looking at the race too closely. And two years later, since he had run before, a lot of people clearly assumed that he’d already been vetted. (And there were bigger, hotter races to cover in the state anyway.)

Now George Santos is preparing to be sworn in next week. And while he is apologizing (sort of) for all of the untruths he told on the campaign trail, he has no intention of stepping aside. He claims he’s going to work hard and be a successful representative for his district. We shall see.