When the House reconvenes Tuesday after a two-week recess, the first order of business will not be legislation. It will be accountability, or at least the threat of it. Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, face imminent expulsion resolutions from members of the opposing party, and a growing number of their own colleagues say they would vote to remove them, Fox News reported.
The twin expulsion drives mark something rare in modern congressional history: a bipartisan willingness to clean house at the same time, with two Republicans and two Democrats potentially on the chopping block. That symmetry may be the only reason any of it moves forward.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said over the weekend she would introduce a resolution to expel Swalwell from the chamber if he does not resign. On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., is vowing to draft a parallel measure targeting Gonzales. And behind those two names sit two more, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., and Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., each carrying their own ethics investigations and legal exposure.
Swalwell dropped out of California's 2026 gubernatorial race on Sunday, acknowledging what he called a lack of judgment. The move came as he faces multiple sexual assault and misconduct allegations from four women, charges he has repeatedly called "false." He has pledged to vigorously defend himself.
But the political ground has shifted fast. The Manhattan district attorney's office has opened a criminal investigation into an incident that allegedly occurred in New York City. That investigation, combined with the mounting accusations, has made Swalwell's position in Congress increasingly untenable, even among Democrats who once defended him. As Nancy Pelosi urged Swalwell to exit the governor's race, the pressure only intensified.
Luna framed the stakes bluntly. As the New York Post reported, she warned Democrats against shielding Swalwell:
"If Democrats want to protect this type of garbage, I wouldn't recommend it, but they're going to be put on the board for that."
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday and left no ambiguity about where he stands. He said he would vote to expel both Swalwell and Gonzales:
"These allegations are despicable, and they demean the integrity of Congress. These things are just completely unacceptable. And as far as I'm concerned, both gentlemen need to go home."
That Donalds volunteered a vote against a fellow Republican, Gonzales, is worth noting. It signals that at least some members are willing to take the political hit of removing one of their own rather than let the institution sink further.
Tony Gonzales carries his own weight of scandal. The Texas Republican admitted to having an affair with a staff member who later died by setting herself on fire, a devastating detail that has shadowed his office for months. House GOP leadership called on Gonzales to suspend his campaign, and in March he dropped his re-election bid.
The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into Gonzales. Fernandez's planned expulsion resolution would force a floor vote, putting Republicans in the uncomfortable position of defending or discarding one of their own members while simultaneously pressing the case against Swalwell. The deepening misconduct scandals on both sides have created an unusual dynamic where neither party can claim the moral high ground without also accepting losses from its own ranks.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., captured the mood in a social media post Sunday:
"They should resign IMMEDIATELY. If they don't, we should expel all of them."
Expulsion is not easy. The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority to remove a sitting member. The last time the House expelled anyone was George Santos, the New York Republican removed in 2023 after he was convicted of wire fraud and identity theft. Santos was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison before President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2025.
The Santos precedent matters here. Members who voted to expel Santos set a standard, that serious criminal or ethical misconduct warrants removal, not just a slap on the wrist from an ethics panel. The question now is whether enough members from both parties will apply that same standard across the aisle.
So far, only a handful of members have signaled they would support removing a lawmaker from their own party. That is the bottleneck. Republicans can introduce a resolution against Swalwell, but they need Democratic votes to reach two-thirds. Democrats can target Gonzales, but they need Republican votes. The math only works if both sides are willing to trade.
That is exactly the dynamic taking shape. Newsmax reported that lawmakers from both parties are discussing action against four members total, creating the possibility of an unprecedented bipartisan purge. One House Democrat told Axios, "People feel confident that the allegations against all four are credible." Another lawmaker described the mood on Capitol Hill as a "full house cleaning."
The logic is cold but practical: removing two members from each party would not change the balance of power. That arithmetic may be the only thing that makes expulsion politically survivable for either side.
Beyond Swalwell and Gonzales, two other names keep surfacing. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., is facing more than five decades in prison after allegedly funneling more than $5 million in disaster relief money to fund her congressional campaign and personal lifestyle. A House Ethics adjudicatory subcommittee in March found her guilty of more than two dozen violations as part of an investigation separate from a federal criminal indictment handed down by a Miami grand jury.
The ethics panel is expected to formally recommend its suggested punishment later this month. That recommendation could be as severe as expulsion. House Democratic leadership has indicated it will withhold judgment until the panel announces its decision, a cautious posture that contrasts with the urgency other members are demanding.
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., a former Army combat veteran, faces his own House Ethics Committee investigation. He has been dogged by allegations of misrepresenting his military service, domestic violence, threatening to release sexually explicit photos of a former girlfriend, and abusing committee assignments to benefit defense contracting firms he owns. Mills has denied wrongdoing and is running for re-election. As the broader scandal has escalated across the chamber, the pressure on leadership to act has only grown.
Neither House Republican nor House Democratic leadership has publicly commented on the rank-and-file efforts to expel Swalwell and Gonzales. That silence speaks volumes. Leaders in both parties are calculating whether to get ahead of the movement or let it play out on its own.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., broke with her party's cautious posture:
"I think that this is very important that we believe women and that we show people across the Capitol and across the country that we will not accept this kind of behavior."
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., struck a similar tone, writing that "Congress must hold itself to the highest ethical standard, regardless of party." These statements, coming from members on opposite sides of the aisle, suggest the appetite for action extends beyond a few firebrands.
The allegations that helped collapse Swalwell's gubernatorial campaign have now followed him back to the House floor. And for Gonzales, the admission of an affair with a staffer who died under horrific circumstances has left him with few defenders even in his own conference.
The immediate question is procedural. Luna has signaled she will introduce her resolution when the House gavels in. Fernandez has pledged to follow with her own. Whether leadership fast-tracks those resolutions, refers them to committee, or tables them will reveal how seriously the institution intends to police itself.
Expulsion resolutions are privileged, meaning any member can force a floor vote. That strips leadership of the ability to quietly bury the effort. The accusations that have been building for weeks are now impossible to ignore in a procedural sense, members will have to go on the record.
The two-thirds threshold remains steep. But the bipartisan nature of the scandals, two Democrats, two Republicans, all facing serious allegations or findings, creates a rare opening. Members who might otherwise protect a colleague can point to the other party's losses as cover.
Open questions remain. What specific conduct underlies the Manhattan DA's investigation into Swalwell? What will the ethics panel recommend for Cherfilus-McCormick later this month? Will leadership in either party whip votes for or against expulsion, or will they let members vote their conscience?
The House has expelled only a handful of members in its entire history. The prospect of removing four in a single session would be without precedent. But then, the conduct alleged here, sexual assault, misappropriation of disaster relief funds, ethics violations numbering in the dozens, is not ordinary misconduct.
Voters sent these people to Washington to govern. The least Congress can do is hold its own members to the same laws and standards it imposes on everyone else.
