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Gabrielle Lipsky

Communications staffer who was George Santos's spokeswoman, resigned the day after the House Ethics report that preceded his expulsion, and weeks later was hired by Nancy Mace into the same role, amid record turnover in Mace's office.

Gabrielle "Gabby" L. Lipsky is a congressional communications professional whose career links two of the most turnover-prone offices on Capitol Hill. She was the spokeswoman for Rep. George Santos (R-NY) through his rise and fall, resigned the day after the House Ethics Committee report that triggered his expulsion, and weeks later was hired by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) to be Mace's communications director, the same job, for a member who had publicly branded Santos a fraud.

What happened

Background. Lipsky graduated from Adelphi University in 2020 with a degree in psychology and criminal justice. She worked as an account executive at the New York firm AMW Public Relations from late 2021 into 2022. George Santos was a client of the firm; impressed with her work, he brought her onto his 2022 congressional campaign as press secretary in April 2022.

Spokeswoman for George Santos (April 2022 to November 2023). When Santos was sworn in, Lipsky moved into his congressional office, handling press and office-management duties, and was described in later reporting as his communications director. In a February 2023 Mediaite profile published as the fabrications scandal engulfed the office, she described the job candidly: "Typically, I would describe my normal day as a pinball machine," and "I see the looks we get in the hallway... I know people think that the staff is radioactive." Asked how she could work for Santos, she said: "At the end of the day, the congressman has a job to do, and he needs people to help him do that. Someone's got to do it." She predicted the staff would "come out battle-tested."

Resignation, November 17, 2023. The House Ethics Committee released its report on Santos on November 16, 2023, finding "substantial evidence" that he had "blatantly stole[n] from his campaign." Lipsky resigned the next day, one of the senior aides to leave as the report landed. Santos was expelled from the House two weeks later, on December 1, 2023, by a 311 to 114 vote.

Mace had spent a year attacking Santos. Mace was among the first Republicans to call for Santos's resignation. On CBS's Face the Nation on January 8, 2023, she said his "entire resume in life was manufactured."

Quote card: Mace says George Santos's entire resume in life was manufactured

Mace on CBS Face the Nation, January 8, 2023.

Yet when the expulsion vote came, Mace voted no, calling Santos "an a--" who still "deserves the presumption of innocence" and saying the vote was "about shifting the balance of power in Congress."

Quote card: Mace says George Santos is an a-- who deserves the presumption of innocence

Mace explaining her vote against expulsion, December 1, 2023.

Hired by Nancy Mace, January 2024. Roughly seven weeks after leaving Santos, Lipsky was hired as Mace's communications director. Fox News broke the story on January 8, 2024, a year to the day after Mace's "manufactured" remark. Neither Mace's office nor Lipsky responded to requests for comment.

The hire landed in the middle of an exodus. The Daily Beast reported that nine staffers left Mace's office between November 2023 and early February 2024, eight of them resignations and one a firing. Among the departures were chief of staff Dan Hanlon, deputy chief of staff Richard Chalkey, legislative director Randal Meyer, and the communications director Lipsky was replacing. Casey Burgat, a George Washington University legislative-affairs scholar, told the outlet the rate was "a ridiculously high number, just out of the ordinary," and that he "would be shocked if you found any other Representative or senator with even close to that high of a turnover in such a short amount of time." A former Mace aide put the Santos connection bluntly, telling reporters it was "a big reason why she's only able to hire former George Santos staffers right now."

Tenure with Mace and departure. Lipsky served as Mace's spokeswoman through 2024, fielding press on Mace's campaign and congressional matters into December of that year. She subsequently left for the Senate, joining Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a deputy communications director in 2025.

This entry documents Lipsky in her professional capacity as a press aide. She is not accused of wrongdoing, and the conduct that drew scrutiny to the offices she worked in was that of the members who employed her.

Sources

See also