House Moves Toward Expelling Swalwell Amid Multiple Sexual Assault Allegations

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna announced Saturday she would file a motion to expel Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House of Representatives, setting the stage for a potential cascade of retaliatory expulsion votes that could engulf members of both parties before it is over.

The move came after the San Francisco Chronicle published a report in which an unnamed former staffer alleged Swalwell sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions, in 2019 and again in 2024, when she was too intoxicated to consent. The woman worked in his office for approximately two years. CNN subsequently reported a second former staffer had come forward with a separate accusation, and Fox News reported that at least four former female staffers total had leveled sexual misconduct allegations against the California Democrat, who represents the East Bay and had been considered a front-runner in the California gubernatorial race before the story broke.

Swalwell, who is married with children, denied the allegations as "false and outrageous." His attorney sent a cease and desist letter to at least one of the accusers. The political fallout was nevertheless immediate: multiple senior campaign aides abruptly resigned, and he lost key endorsements. House Democratic leadership, in a Friday night statement, called for a "swift investigation" and urged Swalwell to immediately end his gubernatorial campaign, stopping short of demanding his resignation from Congress.

Luna, a Republican from Florida, said she would not "serve with these sexual deviants," framing the expulsion motion as a matter of congressional integrity. The House could take up the matter as soon as next week.

Democrats are not prepared to absorb that vote passively. According to Axios, the party is ready to respond to any expulsion vote against Swalwell by moving in turn to expel Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas. Gonzales, a married father of six and self-described devout Catholic, has been under House Ethics Committee investigation for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a staffer, Santos-Aviles, who later died by suicide. Her widower, Adrian Aviles, accused Gonzales of abusing his position, and his attorney contacted Gonzales seeking a settlement. The San Antonio Express-News separately published recovered text messages showing Gonzales repeatedly propositioning a different campaign staffer for sex. Gonzales has said he will not be "blackmailed."

The chain reaction could extend further, with potential expulsion votes against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida and Rep. Cory Mills, also of Florida. Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted in November 2025 on charges tied to approximately $5 million in FEMA funds allegedly paid improperly to her family's company and used to finance her political campaign. A House Ethics Committee adjudicatory subcommittee subsequently found she violated 25 of 27 ethics charges following a nearly seven-hour televised trial; she has pleaded not guilty. Mills faces a separate range of allegations including accusations of hiring prostitutes, physically assaulting a woman, sexually extorting and stalking another woman, and fabricating portions of his military record, with potential financial fraud charges that could draw the Ethics Committee into expulsion proceedings.

Whether any of these efforts result in actual removal is far from settled. Under Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution, expulsion requires a two-thirds majority of the House, a threshold that has proved nearly impossible to clear in practice. Only six House members have ever been expelled in the history of the United States. Of the 21 total congressional expulsions across both chambers, 17 occurred in 1861 and 1862, when members were removed for supporting the Confederacy, the last time the Senate expelled anyone at all. Lawmakers have historically stopped short of removing colleagues without either a criminal conviction or a completed Ethics process in hand, and with none of the current cases fully adjudicated, that procedural reality may offer political cover even as the pressure to act intensifies on both sides of the aisle.