Greg Hach, a native of Hicksville, New York, announced he is running for Congress, attempting to primary embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and restore “integrity” to Long Island.
Hach is an Air Force veteran and a lawyer in New York specializing in catastrophic personal injury law through his firm Hach and Rose, as well as plaintiff-side class action law. He and his wife Theresa have three children.
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Now the Republican is making his first attempt at running for public office. The decision to run was motivated by him seeing Santos’s controversies and wanting to ensure that Long Island was represented by someone voters could trust, he said.
“I’m as confused about George Santos’s life as he is,” Hach told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “He’s a con man. He’s a crook. I definitely support the House’s decision to censure Santos. He’s failed to address any of the issues that affect the residents of the Third District.”
Santos has been charged with 13 criminal counts, which include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. Santos has also been caught lying about the main parts of his resume throughout his time on the campaign trail.
Santos pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges.
“Our representative of Congress took an oath to our country that can’t be trusted because he can’t be trusted,” Hach said. “I took that same oath when I joined the Air Force many years ago. To support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. And I’ll honor that until the day that I die.”
He said that the thought of having someone such as Santos having a say in whether or not to send his son, who is joining the Marines, into harm’s way was something he “couldn’t withstand” and that it compelled him to run.
Another reason he’s running is that he is at “a loss to understand why sexual orientation and gender issues are prioritized over issues like violent crime, Chinese aggression, energy independence, the cost of groceries,” and he wants to shift the focus back to those issues.
Hach told the Washington Examiner that his top four focuses are crime, economy, immigration, and national security. He’s visited the Ukraine and Poland border twice, both after Russia’s invasion of the country, and he said this cemented the need for national security and aid for Ukraine to continue because if Russia wins, then America loses.
“Authoritarianism is on the rise,” he said. “We’ve been weakened by our enemies who enter and leave our country with seeming impunity. And we need to be more aggressive to counter the threat in China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran like the new axis of evil.”
Hach breaks from many within his party when it comes to sending aid to Ukraine.
“I’m definitely a team player with the Republican Party, but with respect to Ukraine, I think they need to win,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any scenario where if we don’t support Ukraine and Russia wins, they’re going to be more emboldened than they are now, and we’re going to be much less secure than we are now.”
In his campaign announcement video, Hach boasts of being raised in a “strong union home.” He has already garnered support from a local labor union in the district, the International Union Operating Engineers Local 30.
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“Greg Hach is the best candidate to represent our district in Congress, hands down. Greg is in this race for all of the right reasons and will be a force for families and workers in Washington. A man of impeccable character, Greg will represent us honorably and fight for his constituents each and every day. For these reasons, the men and women of IUOE Local 30 enthusiastically endorse Greg Hach’s candidacy for Congress,” William Lynn, Local 30 business manager and financial secretary, and International Union of Operating Engineers vice president, said in a statement.
Hach joins a growing list of Republicans lining up to challenge Santos amid his troubles. But, with the district being purple, any Republican will have an uphill battle retaining the seat. According to the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, the NY-3 seat is considered a “Lean Democrat” seat in 2024.
