Disgraced former congressman George Santos has vowed to drive his critics “insane”, following the results of a self-posted online New Year’s poll.
Mr Santos, who was ousted from the House last month, had posted the poll the previous day asking his 120,000 followers whether or not he should remain in the Republican party.
On Monday he revealed that 26,000 people had responded to the poll, and that an “overwhelming majority” had said he should leave.
The final split showed 67.3 per cent voting in favour of his departure.
“It’s official! 26K people voted and an overwhelming majority wants me out of the Republican Party,” Mr Santos wrote.
“So I will now double down and stay in the party just to drive you all insane! Happy new year!”
Mr Santos’ dramatic exit from Congress came at the beginning of December after he was federally indicted and accused of participating in a campaign finance fraud scheme as well as wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and more.
More than a hundred Republicans joined almost all Democrats in voting to remove him from the chamber.
Since then he has become more vocal on social media, having taken part in a highly anticipated interview with talk show host Ziwe, which was released on YouTube. During the interview Mr Santos lashed out at other alleged “fraudsters” in Congress.
He also said he would not rule out running for office again in future, either as a member of the Republican party or as an independent candidate.
Mr Santos has also seen great success on celebrity video messaging site Cameo, reportedly earning more than his annual congressional salary in just three days on the platform.
