US lawmakers were facing the extraordinary prospect Monday that as many as four members of the House of Representatives could be expelled within days, in an eruption of scandal that has rattled both parties and thrown the chamber into turmoil.
At the center of the storm is Democrat Eric Swalwell of California, who abruptly suspended his campaign for state governor at the weekend after multiple women accused him of sexual assault or misconduct.
But lawmakers are also zeroing in on separate controversies involving Texas Republican Tony Gonzales and two Florida lawmakers — Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Republican Cory Mills — in what would be an unprecedented burst of disciplinary action.
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority, a threshold so high that Congress has wielded the sanction only in the gravest cases, removing just six members in its 237-year history.
Swalwell’s troubles escalated rapidly over the weekend as reports in the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN detailed allegations from four women, including a former staff member who said he sexually assaulted her twice while she was too intoxicated to consent.
Swalwell has apologized for what he called “mistakes in judgment” while insisting the accusations are false.
His decision to end his gubernatorial bid did little to calm the uproar in Washington, where calls for him to resign from the House have spread across party lines.
Republican Anna Paulina Luna said she was filing a motion to expel Swalwell, and support for votes to oust all four beginning as early as this week has come from an ideologically wide group of lawmakers.
Gonzales is under mounting pressure after acknowledging an affair with a former aide who later died by self-immolation. House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders had already urged him not to seek reelection.
“These allegations are despicable and they demean the integrity of Congress,” Florida Republican Byron Donalds told NBC, adding that both Swalwell and Gonzales “need to go home.”
The Swalwell and Gonzales cases in particular have fed talk on Capitol Hill of a politically symmetrical purge: one Democrat for one Republican, or perhaps two from each party.
“Gonzales and Swalwell exploited their staffers’ ideals and commitment to public service as a vulnerability. These staffers work incredibly hard and instead of being treated with respect, they were preyed upon,” Democratic New Mexico Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez said.
“These women have suffered enough. Now we must act to protect them and make sure there is accountability. Reps. Gonzales and Swalwell are not fit to serve. They must resign. If they do not, I will vote to expel them.”
Cherfilus-McCormick is already facing a sanctions hearing after an Ethics Committee subpanel found she committed 25 violations tied to campaign finance and related conduct, and she is also due to face a federal criminal trial next year.
Gonzales is also being examined by the Ethics Committee, a bipartisan but notoriously slow-moving body that handles misconduct cases in the House.
Mills, meanwhile, is under investigation over allegations ranging from sexual misconduct and domestic violence to campaign finance and gift violations, all of which he denies.
Many lawmakers remain skeptical however that the chamber will act as soon as this week — especially on Swalwell, whose case has only just surfaced and has not yet gone through the usual internal process.
The House is already operating with an exceptionally thin Republican majority, and any vacancies would trigger special elections whose timing would depend on state governors.
Swalwell’s fall has added a second layer of political shock because he was one of the leading Democratic contenders in California’s governor’s race.
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