Rep. Nick LaLota (R-New York) was already facing an uphill battle in his bid for a second term in New York’s 1st Congressional District, given his narrow 2022 victory and the fact that he’ll be running under redrawn boundaries. But an 11th hour announcement from former Rep. George Santos (R-New York) may further complicate LaLota’s reelection math. On Friday, Santos posted a statement to X (formerly Twitter) that he would be filing paperwork to run for the 1st Congressional District as an independent, and that he no longer considered himself a Republican. “The Republican Party continues to lie…