The House voted Tuesday afternoon to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), by a vote of 413-2, after the House Ethics Committee’s recommendation to do so following an investigation into sexual misconduct with two female staffers.
Edwards, who dropped his reelection bid after the committee released its report, was censured after the committee released findings stating the lawmaker had failed “to adhere to the spirit of rules prohibiting sexual harassment of and unwanted advances to House staffers.” Two Republicans voted against censuring Edwards, despite the recommendation. The duo was Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Edwards himself.
“I’m asking you to distinguish between conduct that you might personally have handled differently, and conduct that warrants the solemn judgment of censure by the United States House of Representatives,” Edwards said on the House floor ahead of the vote.
“I’ve spent my public life trying to serve the people who entrusted me with this office,” he said. “I am imperfect. I have made mistakes, but I do not believe I committed sexual harassment and the factual findings of this investigation do not justify branding me as though I did.”
According to the report, Edwards invited young female staffers to dinner, gave them gifts, wrote them notes, and repeatedly tried to see them. In one instance, Edwards talked to the staffers about going to strip clubs, the report said.
Edwards’s campaign denied that any of the findings violate federal sexual harassment laws. The findings outline a multitude of advances the congressman made toward the two women, both of whom worked for him in the North Carolina Senate.
In his floor speech, Edwards continually claimed his friendship with his staffers was two-sided and apologized to the women for subjecting them to this, acknowledging that his understanding of the relationship did not match theirs.
The North Carolina Republican went as far as to write his colleagues a 22-page letter on why his actions were not sexual misconduct, in an effort to save himself from congressional punishment, but he did not succeed.
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The last member of Congress to be censured was Rep. Al Green (D-TX) for disturbing President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress last year. Expulsion is the most severe form of congressional punishment that can be brought upon a member, while a censure resolution is a less severe “slap on the wrist.” The last member to be expelled was former New York Republican Rep. George Santos.
Edwards’s censure comes as three House lawmakers have already resigned this year — California Democrat Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Tony Gonzales, who were both accused of sexual misconduct, and Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who was accused of financial misconduct.