Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is the latest member of Congress to resign, effectively avoiding a vote to expel her. 

The Florida Democrat announced her resignation just before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether she should face expulsion after she was found guilty of over two dozen ethics violations last month. 

“After careful reflection and prayer, I have concluded that it is in the best interest of my constituents and the institution that I step aside at this time,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in her resignation letter. 

“The Committee has lost jurisdiction and there will not be a sanctions hearing,” Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, chair of the House Ethics Committee, said when members met on Tuesday afternoon. 

Cherfilus-McCormick and several codefendants were indicted late last year on charges of stealing $5 million in federal disaster relief funds and using some of the money to fund Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 special election campaign for Florida’s 20th District. An Ethics Committee panel found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of 25 charges in a televised, seven-hour public trial in late March, setting the stage for Tuesday’s hearing to determine sanctions. She has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and maintains her innocence. 

In a follow-up statement, Cherfilus-McCormick charged that the bipartisan Ethics investigation was “not a fair process.”  

“I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt,” she said. “I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished.” 

Cherfilus-McCormick could have faced an expulsion vote, which requires a two-thirds majority of the House, as soon as this week. GOP Rep. Greg Steube of Florida had said he would bring a resolution to expel her once the Ethics Committee made its determination. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson and some Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, had said they believed Cherfilus-McCormick should be expelled if she doesn’t resign.  

Cherfilus-McCormick submitted letters to the Ethics Committee from several local community leaders and organizations opposing her expulsion. They argued that it would unfairly leave her constituents without representation as Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republicans in Florida’s state legislature could soon hold a special session to redraw the state’s congressional district lines in their favor. 

After former Rep. Alcee Hastings died in April 2021, DeSantis set the special primary election for November and the general for January 2022, leaving the 20th District without a representative for nearly nine months until Cherfilus-McCormick took office.

“Our district is currently navigating a high-stakes redistricting period, during which continued representation is essential,” Linda Hugley, president of Women of Veteran Affairs, said in a letter submitted to the Ethics Committee. “The loss of a sitting Member would weaken the district’s ability to advocate for itself and protect its interests when those interests are most vulnerable.”  

Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation comes on the heels of two members of Congress, one Democrat and one Republican, resigning amid sexual misconduct allegations. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced a resolution on Monday to expel GOP Rep. Cory Mills, also of Florida, who is under an Ethics Committee investigation for, among other things, allegations of domestic violence. Mills has denied wrongdoing and is reportedly threatening to bring an expulsion resolution of his own against Mace.    

Congress last expelled one of its own members, former Republican Rep. George Santos of New York, in 2023 after he was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Santos later pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison in April 2025, though President Donald Trump commuted his sentence less than six months later.