Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick announced her resignation from Congress Tuesday, minutes before the House Ethics Committee was set to consider what punishment she should face for numerous ethics violations.
With the Florida Democrat’s resignation, the Ethics Committee loses jurisdiction over her case and how she handled money flowing to her congressional campaign.
“The Committee on Ethics has now lost jurisdiction in this matter. There will not be a sanctions hearing,” Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said as the committee was gathered for the hearing.
Guest and California Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, the committee’s ranking member, said they had not been aware she would resign prior to the ethics hearing.
“Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district,” Cherfilus-McCormick posted on X four minutes before the hearing was set to begin.
Her resignation concludes a yearslong investigation into allegations that she used a “straw donor scheme” and other tactics as she ran for Congress. Last month an adjudicatory subcommittee found “clear and convincing evidence” that she had committed 25 of 27 ethics violations.
The Ethics Committee was set to recommend a sanction for Cherfilus-McCormick, with an expulsion effort led by her colleagues expected to follow. Speaking to reporters after the panel’s short meeting, Guest said that he could not share what the recommendation of the committee would have been.
Her resignation prior to any potential floor action takes pressure off her fellow Democrats, many of whom hedged about whether they would vote with Republicans to expel her.
The Congressional Black Caucus said they “recognize” the service of Cherfilus-McCormick, adding that she came to Congress with a “deep commitment to her community.” The statement did not address her ethics troubles or federal indictment.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not publicly say whether or not he would vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick when asked on Monday. He said Democrats had planned to caucus after the Ethics Committee passed down its recommendations Tuesday.
Expulsion is the most severe punishment the House can dole out, and prior to the ouster of former New York GOP Rep. George Santos in December 2023, hadn’t been used successfully for more than 20 years. It requires a two-thirds vote on the House floor.
“She forced the Ethics Committee through this process to just simply delay the inevitable,” said GOP Rep. Greg Steube, a fellow Floridian who had been leading a push for a floor vote to expel her.
Her resignation was effective as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, 30 minutes before the ethics hearing was supposed to begin. It gives the slim Republican majority a bit more breathing room, bringing the total number of House Democrats down to 213.
Cherfilus-McCormick faces a separate criminal trial, recently delayed until 2027, and has denied the charges against her. Prosecutors allege she took Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments made to her family’s health care company during the COVID-19 pandemic and funneled them to her campaign.
In her statement, Cherfilus-McCormick said she felt she could not adequately defend herself in the ethics probe while her criminal indictment was pending, adding the House “should be very careful about the precedent we are setting.”
The Florida Democrat came to Congress in a 2022 special election and had spent most of her time in office under investigation by the committee. She was on the House Foreign Affairs and House Veterans’ Affairs committees, and she was the second Haitian American elected to Congress.
How quickly Cherfilus-McCormick’s vacant seat can be filled now falls to the discretion of Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has authority over scheduling a special election. However, if the past is any indication, DeSantis could move slowly on that task, as he did after the death of Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings in 2021.
Cherfilus-McCormick is the third member to resign in less than two weeks. Former Reps. Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell both resigned last week following allegations by former staffers of sexual misconduct. Both were also under investigation by the Ethics Committee as well.
“[The message] I hope it sends is that we’re going to hold the members accountable … and that this body is willing to expel members who violate the rules and who bring distrust upon this institution, and I hope that that’s what people see. We want individuals to have trust in their elected officials, and I think as members of Congress, we should be held to a higher standard,” Guest said.
The series of resignations has brought a renewed focus on congressional ethics that seems unlikely to end anytime soon. Some members have also called for Florida Republican Rep. Cory Mills, who is also the subject of an Ethics Committee investigation, to resign or face expulsion.
“There are a lot of people testing norms right now, not just in this institution, not just in politics,” DeSaulnier said. “This is the way we as a country should respond, working together to make sure that people understand that ethics and trust is paramount, [not] just political differences. It goes beyond that.”
