Rep. Anna Paulina Luna told Fox News Digital she is "very confident" the House has enough votes to expel Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the Florida Democrat facing a federal criminal indictment and more than two dozen ethics violations. A vote could come as early as next week.
Luna, a Republican from Florida, said the push is bipartisan, and that Democrats themselves have told her they are ready to cut Cherfilus-McCormick loose.
The momentum behind expulsion has been building since March, when a House ethics subcommittee found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of more than two dozen ethics violations. She also faces a separate federal criminal indictment that could carry more than 53 years in prison if she is convicted. Rep. Greg Steube, also a Florida Republican, is expected to introduce a formal expulsion resolution once the House Ethics Committee issues its recommended sanction, which is anticipated next week.
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority, a threshold that has been met only a handful of times in American history. But Luna told Fox News Digital she believes that bar will be cleared this time.
"I'm very confident that the votes to expel Sheila [Cherfilus-McCormick] are there. Democrats have voiced their frustrations with her and have stated that they will vote to expel her as well."
House Democratic leadership has not yet weighed in publicly on Cherfilus-McCormick's fate. But Luna's claim that rank-and-file Democrats are on board tracks with broader reporting. A growing number of Democrats, from moderates to progressives, have backed her ouster. One Democratic member who has publicly supported expulsion is Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, signaling that the pressure extends across the caucus.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who is running for re-election, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that she has no intention of stepping down. She framed her decision as a matter of loyalty to her constituents.
"This is not the time to abandon the district, not when they too are fighting for their future."
That statement may not age well. The ethics subcommittee's finding in March was sweeping, more than two dozen violations, and the federal indictment hanging over her head is no minor matter. If convicted on all counts, she faces more than half a century behind bars.
The ethics violations are tied to campaign finance practices. The Washington Times reported that the House Ethics Committee found Cherfilus-McCormick committed dozens of violations involving illicit campaign fund transfers, and that she was accused of inflating her campaign's strength through those transfers. Luna herself posted on X that the case involved what she called a "theft issue."
The combination of an ethics finding and a criminal indictment makes Cherfilus-McCormick's position nearly impossible to defend. Members of Congress have survived one or the other. Surviving both at once, with the full weight of the House bearing down, is another matter entirely.
The Cherfilus-McCormick case is not Luna's first time forcing a colleague toward the door. On Tuesday, she threatened to introduce a motion expelling Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, if he did not resign. Five women, including one former staffer, have accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct and rape. Swalwell denied criminal wrongdoing.
Swalwell, who had served in Congress for 13 years, ultimately chose to resign rather than face an expulsion vote. Luna described the sequence plainly.
"I was ready to make that expulsion. I had it ready to go. And then his office contacted my office and let me know that his resignation would be coming in a few minutes before the deadline was for the expulsion [motion]."
Luna said Swalwell's departure was unavoidable. "His resignation, obviously, was something that had to be done," she said. "It was non-negotiable." She also told Fox News Digital that she turned over unreported information about Swalwell's conduct to the FBI.
The broader House expulsion push has targeted members of both parties. On the same Tuesday, former Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, resigned from the House to avoid a looming removal vote of his own. A photo caption in the Fox News Digital report placed Gonzales's resignation on April 14, 2026.
Luna did not spare Gonzales because of party affiliation. She said the standard should apply equally.
What makes Luna's account particularly damaging for Congress as an institution is her description of how long misconduct went unaddressed. She said the behavior attributed to Swalwell was an open secret on Capitol Hill.
"From what we were hearing on the Hill, this was behavior that was known about for a while. But no one came forward to officially report it."
Luna called that silence "disturbing." And she is right. If members of Congress and their staffs knew about serious misconduct, including allegations of sexual assault, and said nothing, the failure belongs to the entire institution, not just the accused.
Luna framed her willingness to act as a matter of basic accountability. "I guess I took it on myself to act specifically in these cases because I got really frustrated," she said. "I'm up here to serve my constituents."
She went further, arguing that tolerating misconduct corrodes the credibility of every member who serves alongside the offender.
"And when you are associated with and you accept people's behavior that is unethical and immoral and illegal, it's a poor reflection, not just on the institution, but it also taints the waters for everyone that serves with these people."
That is a standard worth holding people to, regardless of party. Speaker Johnson has also backed expulsion in Cherfilus-McCormick's case, adding the weight of House leadership to what Luna has been driving from the back bench.
The immediate question is whether the House Ethics Committee's recommended sanction, expected next week, will formally trigger the expulsion resolution from Steube. If it does, the floor vote could follow quickly. Luna says the votes are there. Cherfilus-McCormick says she is staying.
The federal indictment adds a separate layer of legal jeopardy that no amount of defiance from the House floor can resolve. More than 53 years of potential prison time is not a talking point. It is a criminal exposure that would end most political careers on contact.
Several open questions remain. Which specific Democrats have privately committed to voting for expulsion? What charges does the federal indictment contain? And will House Democratic leadership ever take a public position, or will they let the vote happen and claim clean hands afterward?
The pattern is familiar. When members of Congress face serious legal and ethical trouble, leadership on both sides tends to go quiet, wait for the process to play out, and avoid putting their fingerprints on the outcome. Luna, whatever else you think of her approach, is not doing that. She is naming names, setting deadlines, and forcing votes.
Congress rarely polices itself. When someone actually tries, the rest of the institution's silence tells you everything you need to know.
