Sexual misconduct allegations involving Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-California) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) drove the two congressmen to resign in April and kick-started a reckoning at the Capitol.
Almost seven months later, the number of House members accused of sexual misconduct or domestic abuse who have since lost their seats is up to six.
Two resigned. One opted not to run again. Another was defeated in his primary. And, on Tuesday, two more lost their bids for reelection.
Swalwell’s and Gonzales’s resignations — which occurred as Congress was dealing with fallout from the government’s investigation into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — renewed calls to address sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill. House leaders tasked women’s groups with figuring out how to fix the issue. They are expected to announce new recommendations this month.
But the fates of the half-dozen congressmen facing such allegations reveal that, in the absence of rules or culture that effectively prevent and punish misconduct, the most effective tool for accountability might be public opinion.
“We’ve really put predators on notice,” said Cheyenne Hunt, executive director of Reckoning Action, an advocacy group focused on combating misogyny. She supported women who came forward this year with allegations of sexual assault and harassment by Swalwell and Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner, who withdrew from the race in July after sexual assault accusations that he denies.
Lawmakers and activists credit the public discourse about Epstein for creating a political environment in which voters took sexual misconduct allegations seriously.
“It was something they just couldn’t get away from,” said Hunt, who noted that some of the women she worked with cited the courage of the Epstein survivors in their decisions to go public.
Swalwell has categorically denied sexual assault and harassment allegations against him, claiming they are politically motivated. After initial denials, Gonzales acknowledged that he had an affair with a staff member — a violation of House rules — who died after setting herself on fire.
The attention surfaced new accusations of misconduct against sitting members and thrust a spotlight onto others that were part of ongoing legal battles.
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-North Carolina) dropped his reelection bid this summer after the House Ethics Committee recommended censuring him over its findings he had engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers.
While the panel found that Edwards did not engage in sexual activity with or explicitly proposition any of his staffers, it did find that he was aware “that his excessive attention toward the young women had led to rumors and innuendo in the office.” His colleagues voted to censure him weeks later despite Edwards’s contention that “affectionate friendship” did not warrant such a disciplinary action.
Rep. Cory Mills (R-Florida) lost his GOP primary after facing allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse, on top of campaign finance violations, all of which he denied. Ahead of his primary, several of Mills’s House colleagues endorsed his GOP opponent.
On Tuesday, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), who was accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno — which he denies — lost his competitive race after tens of millions of dollars in outside spending. And Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-California), who is facing an Ethics Committee probe related to sexual misconduct claims, lost his seat to his challenger. Gomez acknowledged “mistakes outside my marriage” after the investigation was announced but did not elaborate.
Neither Miller nor Gomez referenced the allegations against them in statements issued after their defeats.
Angela Gonzales-Torres, a fellow Democrat who started her campaign to unseat Gomez long before the ethics inquiry, said the controversy surrounding the congressman became an important factor for voters in the closing stretch. (In California, the top two primary finishers advance to the general election regardless of party.) Gonzales-Torres got help from social media influencers to amplify the allegations against Gomez and made the case that she would be able focus on serving the district, while he was distracted dealing with a personal scandal.
“We just don’t even have time for that when we’re fighting for our lives,” she said.
Rep. Aisha Wahab (D-California), who won a special election over the summer to replace Swalwell, said in a text message that “voters are sending a clear message that this behavior will no longer be tolerated.”
She also called for incoming lawmakers to demand accountability, and challenge the culture that she said has enabled poor behavior.
Current lawmakers say they are trying.
In May, after the uproar over Swalwell and Gonzales, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) asked Republican and Democratic women’s groups on the Hill to explore how to tighten the rules and make Congress a safer work environment.
Reps. Kat Cammack (R-Florida) and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-New Mexico), who chair the Republican and Democratic Women’s Caucuses, respectively, are charged with leading the effort.
The two women have taken on a significant challenge: addressing an age-old problem laden with stigma and fear of reprisal, where accountability often relies on people coming forward.
Leger Fernández described Tuesday’s election results as a powerful rebuke in which men accused of misconduct lost reelection, while voters also sent record numbers of women to Congress. But lawmakers cannot simply rely on public outrage and the electoral process to fix this problem, she added.
“It is our duty in Congress to investigate these things so that it comes out,” Leger Fernández said.
Leger Fernández and Cammack plan to introduce new sexual misconduct rules in the next few weeks and are hoping the House will vote to adopt them before the end of the year.
“Americans everywhere are fed up,” Cammack said in a statement. “They sent their members of Congress to represent their interest with integrity — not abuse their positions and disrespect the people who work with us.”
The proposal aims to make it easier for staffers to file allegations, speed up investigations and create clearer consequences for violations, Leger Fernández said.
Other ideas are also circulating. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) introduced a bill this summer that would bar federal politicians from using campaign contributions to fight or settle sexual misconduct allegations.
Leger Fernández said that Edwards’s alleged inappropriate conduct toward his staff lasted for two years, but “he got less than two minutes of censure on the floor.”
“That is not serious,” she said. “You start changing the culture when you see heads fall.”
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