Lying (aka exaggeration, shading facts, omitting material informaiton etc) to get elected is a time honored tradition for political hacks on BOTH sides of the aisle. Santos seems to be more guilty of stupidity by lying about such easily checked facts. Zimmerman’s campaign was even more inept by NOT fact-checking during the campaign. In any event, he should be seated in Congress and its not even a close call.
However, Santos’ may be at greater risk if it turns out he lied about the sources of funds used for his campaign. It now appears some of those “family business” sources don’t exist. Even worse was lying about his grandparents escaping to Brazil from the Nazis when it appears they were born in Brazil. Now the Jewish Republicans who adopted him are having second thoughts.