Two members of Congress who helped oust two male lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct and extramarital affairs told USA TODAY that ethics should be a bipartisan issue.
Scandal rocks the National Diet building ahead of midterm elections
Congressional reporter Zachary Schermele takes a deep dive into the latest scandals on Capitol Hill and how they’re shaking politics ahead of the midterm elections.
WASHINGTON – Last week, two of the most powerful leaders in the House of Representatives, both men, rejected calls to resign as two of their colleagues faced mounting accusations of sexual assault and misconduct.
Women in Congress weren’t buying it.
Within days, rank-and-file women members joined together across party lines to oust Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez. The California Democrat and Texas Republican resigned within an hour of each other rather than be removed from office by their colleagues’ shameful votes.
It was an impressive demonstration of bipartisan resolve on Capitol Hill. And on the heels of the overwhelming approval of the Epstein File Transparency Act, it was just the latest example of female members of Congress united against the men in charge of Congress to hold accountable celebrities accused of harming women.
At the height of the Swalwell allegations, two female congresswomen in particular, Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, and Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico, worked closely together to draft a resolution to expel Swalwell and Gonzalez.
Both women told USA TODAY that the effort to expose abuse by those in power is just beginning.
“This should have happened a while ago,” Luna said.
Under pressure to be expelled
Until recently, Mr. Swalwell had a notable and relatively successful career in Congress.
After serving on the local city council, he represented California’s 15th Congressional District, which includes southwest San Francisco, from 2013 to 2023. He represented the 14th Congressional District, which includes Alameda County, from 2023 to 2026. A longtime ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he was one of the key figures in President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial on January 6. Rebellion. He built up enough political clout over the years to run for governor of California, and his popularity and social media savvy made him a front-runner in the primary.
All that professional progress seemed to explode Friday afternoon when multiple women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct in reports in the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN. He denied these allegations as “completely false.”
It didn’t take long for Luna, a Republican congressman from Florida, to decide enough was enough. The next day, she vowed to introduce a resolution to expel Swalwell. (It is very rare to expel a member of Congress. The last congressman who was successfully expelled was George Santos, who fabricated much of his resume.)
Initially, Luna was thinking of combining Swalwell’s strategy with another strategy to get rid of Tony Gonzalez. Another congressman, a Republican representing parts of San Antonio and El Paso, recently admitted to having an affair with a staffer who died by self-immolation in September 2025, after her husband said the interlude broke up their marriage. “I made a mistake” and “misjudged myself,” Gonzalez later said on a podcast.
After Luna learned that procedural rules prevented her from combining the two resolutions, a Democrat offered to help. Leger Fernandez, who is also the chair of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus, said she is drafting her own bill to oust Gonzalez. They agreed to support each other.
“She was one of the few that came up to bat,” Luna told USA TODAY.
Meanwhile, the two men responsible for leading the chamber were noticeably silent. In the House, the margin was just two votes, and neither Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson nor Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared willing to abandon their votes.
Mr Johnson had already urged Mr Gonzalez not to seek re-election, but did not call for his expulsion. Mr. Jeffries also did not publicly tell Mr. Swalwell to resign. But he called the allegations “alarming” and encouraged Californians to cancel the gubernatorial race.
Women politicians played key roles in releasing the Epstein files
The 119th Congress was not the first time that women were forced to make a seismic political shift. Late last year, they also paved the way for the passage of a bipartisan bill forcing the release of Justice Department documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, who died in custody while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Republican Reps. Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert became key signatures on a petition to force a vote on the bill after Speaker Mike Johnson refused to take it to a vote. Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also played a key role, perhaps sacrificing her political career to support the bill. This decision became a factor in the rift between her and President Trump before she resigned from Congress.
Newly sworn in to Congress, Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva, is the last supporter needed to bring the Epstein File Transparency Act to the table.
“The judiciary cannot wait another day,” she said on the House floor, single-handedly triggering a vote.
The ethical calculation is not over.
The moral reckoning on Capitol Hill may have just begun.
Mr. Luna said he is asking the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate other members of Congress who may have been aware of Mr. Swalwell’s inappropriate conduct. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Nancy Mace, whose political views on most issues could not be more divergent, have agreed to separately expel Rep. Cory Mills, a Florida Republican who is facing an ethics investigation related to allegations of assault and illicit funds. (He told NewsNation that it’s not a “fair comparison” to view the charges he faces in the same light as the charges against Swalwell and Gonzalez.)
Additionally, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said she is considering legislation that would block Swalwell’s pension benefits. Starting in 2042, he will be eligible to receive nearly $22,000 a year, according to an analysis shared with USA TODAY by the independent National Taxpayers Union Foundation. That same year, Gonzalez will also begin receiving $8,700 a year.
The upcoming midterm elections will make all these efforts more dangerous. The November election, just seven months away, is likely to return the House majority to Democrats. And if that happens, the pressure to hold the men in Congress accountable will continue, Rep. Leger Fernandez told USA TODAY.
“Once we get the gavel back, you’ll see us tackle these types of issues,” she said.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
