Who is Jack Martins? George Santos' Potential GOP Replacement

Speculation is growing over who could replace Rep. George Santos, the GOP congressman from New York who has admitted fabricating much of his resume, after his local Republican Party urged him to resign immediately.

New York State Senator Jack Martins is being touted as a potential GOP candidate in the special election that would be triggered if Santos steps down.

Santos flipped New York's 3rd congressional district in November's midterms, helping the Republicans to gain control of the House. However, it later emerged that he had lied about his education, employment history and family background.

On Wednesday, before the local party in Nassau County issued their statement on Santos, Kadia Goba, a political reporter at Semafor, tweeted: "Nassau County GOP will make a major announcement Wednesday regarding the 'disgraced' George Santos.

"Hearing if this is a call for him to resign they'll back newly-elected NY State Sen. Jack Martins as the Republican nominee for NY-3."

On the same day, MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas tweeted that Martins "would love to take Santos' seat."

Martins was born in New York in 1967, the son of Portuguese immigrants to America. He studied political science at the American University in Washington, D.C., followed by law at St. John's University School of Law in New York.

In 2003 Martins was elected mayor of Mineola on Long Island. He first ran for Congress as a Republican candidate for New York's 4th district in 2008, but lost to Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.

Two years later he was elected to represent New York's 7th State Senate district, after a contest that his opponent took all the way to the New York Court of Appeals.

In 2016 Martins stood for Congress in New York's 3rd district, but was narrowly defeated by Democrat Thomas Suozzi.

This was the seat flipped by Santos in November. In December the New York Times published an article suggesting Santos' resume was "largely fiction." The Republican later admitted lying about graduating from Baruch College, and working for both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, during a New York Post interview.

Santos' claim that he was the "grandson of Holocaust refugees" was challenged in an investigation by The Forward, which found they had been born in Brazil before the Second World War. In response Santos told the Post he had "never claimed to be Jewish," but rather "Jew-ish."

Martins spoke at the Nassau County Republican press conference on Wednesday, branding Santos "a fraud" and saying he would not work with him.

Santos has so far refused to step down. On Wednesday he tweeted: "I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living. I will NOT resign!"

An Economist/YouGov poll published on Wednesday found that around 60 percent of Americans want Santos to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

State Senator Jack Martins has been contacted for comment.