Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick told Fox News Digital she will not resign from Congress, not after a federal indictment, not after a guilty verdict on more than two dozen ethics violations, and not with a House expulsion vote bearing down on her as early as this week. The Florida Democrat's defiance sets the stage for only the seventh expulsion in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The House Ethics Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon to formally recommend punitive action against Cherfilus-McCormick, Fox News reported. But Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., has vowed to force a floor vote on her expulsion regardless of whatever sanction the committee suggests, meaning the question of whether she keeps her seat may not wait for a gentler recommendation.
Expulsion requires a two-thirds majority. Republicans are laying the groundwork, and House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled support last week, citing what he called "alarming facts." The math, though, depends on Democrats. And that is where the story gets uncomfortable for the minority party.
The ethics case and the criminal case are separate tracks, but they point in the same direction. In March, the bipartisan House Ethics Committee found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of more than two dozen ethics violations tied to financial misconduct. At the center of the verdict: more than $5 million in disaster relief funds, money that, as the committee found, was more than 100 times what the government owed the family-run company involved.
That alone would be a career-ending scandal for most members. But there is more.
A federal grand jury indicted Cherfilus-McCormick in 2025 on 15 counts. Federal prosecutors charged her with stealing FEMA money, participating in a straw donor scheme to conceal illicit funds flowing to her campaign, and conspiring to file a false federal tax return. If convicted on all counts, she faces more than 50 years in prison.
A federal judge last week approved a delay in the criminal proceedings until February 2027, at the request of both Cherfilus-McCormick's legal team and the prosecution. That timeline means she could remain under indictment, and potentially still in Congress, for nearly two more years unless the House acts first.
Cherfilus-McCormick's response to the mounting pressure has been blunt. She recently told Fox News Digital:
"For those asking whether I plan to resign, the answer is no."
She framed her decision as loyalty to her constituents, adding:
"This is not the time to abandon the district, not when they too are fighting for their future."
The framing is familiar. Embattled lawmakers routinely cast their refusal to step down as a stand on behalf of voters. But voters in Florida's district are now represented by a member who had just $11,000 in the bank heading into April, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. Her campaign carried nearly $4.4 million in debt, some of it from mounting legal fees. That is not a functioning congressional operation. It is a legal defense fund with a House office attached.
Cherfilus-McCormick has also defied calls to suspend her re-election campaign. Several Democrats are already lining up to challenge her in the August 2026 primary, including Gen Z activist Elijah Manley, rap artist Luther Campbell, and former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness.
The contrast between the two parties on accountability is hard to miss. When former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., faced his own ethics scandal in 2023, the House expelled him, the most recent lawmaker to suffer that fate. Just last week, former Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, both resigned to fend off expulsion threats tied to sexual misconduct allegations. One was a Democrat, one a Republican. Both left.
Cherfilus-McCormick has not followed their example. And her party's leadership has been slow to push her toward the door. As Speaker Johnson backed expulsion, the vast majority of Democrats had yet to voice support for removing her. Top Democrats continued to stand by the congresswoman even as the allegations piled up.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday that Democrats would convene after the Ethics Committee concludes its proceedings to discuss Cherfilus-McCormick's fate. His language was careful:
"We will proceed in a manner consistent with our approach to these types of ethics matters, which is to always and at all times follow the facts and apply the relevant law without fear of it."
That is a statement designed to say nothing while sounding principled. Jeffries did not call for her resignation. He did not call for expulsion. He called for a meeting, after the committee acts. It is the political equivalent of running out the clock.
Not every Democrat has been so cautious. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told reporters last week she would vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick if the congresswoman did not resign. That puts Ocasio-Cortez to the right of her own party leadership on an ethics question, a rare position for the progressive firebrand, and one that highlights how far behind the curve Jeffries and others have fallen.
Perhaps the most telling silence belongs to the Congressional Black Caucus, an influential group among Democrats on Capitol Hill. The CBC has been largely silent on the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick, who is a member. More than silent, in fact, the caucus contributed $5,000 to her campaign during the first fundraising quarter of 2026, which ran from January to March. That donation came after her rare House ethics trial over the alleged $5 million FEMA fraud was already underway.
Donating to an indicted colleague facing allegations of stealing disaster relief funds is a choice. It tells you something about where institutional loyalty ranks against public accountability in certain corners of the Democratic caucus.
The Ethics Committee hearing Tuesday will formally recommend a punishment. Steube intends to force an expulsion vote regardless of whether the committee recommends something short of removal. The question is whether enough Democrats will cross over to reach the two-thirds threshold.
Only six lawmakers have been expelled from the House in American history. If the vote goes forward and succeeds, Cherfilus-McCormick would be the seventh, and the first to be removed over allegations of stealing federal disaster relief money.
There is also the question of what happens to her seat. Florida's Republican-controlled state legislature could move forward with redistricting that might carve up the district entirely. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., also faces a looming expulsion vote of his own, which means Florida could see multiple vacancies and a redrawn map in short order.
Cherfilus-McCormick took the oath of office at the Broward County Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on January 18, 2022. She swore to support and defend the Constitution. Federal prosecutors now say she used her position to funnel FEMA funds, hide illegal campaign contributions, and file false tax returns. She says she is not going anywhere. Some House members believe they have the votes to make that decision for her.
When a member of Congress faces 15 felony counts and more than two dozen ethics violations and still won't resign, the institution has two options: act, or accept that accountability is optional. The House will show which one it chooses.
