Ex-NY State Sen. Anna Kaplan files papers to challenge Rep. George Santos

Democratic NY state Sen. Anna Kaplan Monday filed paperwork to run in 2024 for the seat held by controversial Rep. George Santos.

Kaplan, who lives in Great Neck, represented a big chunk of Santos’ NY-03 congressional district for two terms until losing her seat last year when the GOP swept seats across the New York City suburbs.

She’s the third Democrat to file papers for possible runs against Santos, along with Nassau County legislator Josh Lafazan and St. John’s law professor William Murphy.

Kaplan, an Iranian Jew who came to the U.S. as a child, has been vociferous in criticizing Santos in the several months since his upset win in the 2022 midterms election in a Democratic-leaning district on the North Shore of Long Island.

“Our entire community has been victimized, and we demand accountability,” she told a Mineola rally last December demanding Santos step down over his campaign of lies about his life and Jewish heritage.

The race for Santos’ seat is still taking shape on both sides of the aisle.

Ex-Rep. Tom Suozzi, who gave up the seat to mount a losing Democratic campaign for governor, would be a potent candidate. But he has so far given no sign that he’s interested in running.

Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic lawyer who lost to Santos, has also stayed on the sidelines for now.

Democrats have made Santos the poster boy of a $45 million effort to oust as many as six newly elected Republican House lawmakers in New York alone.

Republican leaders are hoping Santos doesn’t even make it to the general election.

Most prominent GOP officials on Long Island have called for him to resign, including the powerful leaders of the Nassau County Republican committee.

Santos is also facing a House ethics committee probe and federal criminal investigation into his murky campaign fundraising disclosures.

He vows not to resign and says he will prove naysayers in both parties wrong, taking a page out of former President Donald Trump’s MAGA playbook.

Santos spent Monday attacking President Biden as “president pudding brains” and squabbling with ex-Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an anti-Trump Republican rebel.

Santos claimed he was a college graduate and a former Goldman Sachs investment banker when he was running for the district, which includes a slice of northeastern Queens.

He also said he has Jewish roots and that his grandparents fled the Holocaust.

All the claims turned out to be false, and Santos is also accused of scamming a homeless veteran out of GoFundMe donations to save his ailing dog, among other shady dealings.