When the House reconvenes Tuesday after a two-week recess, members of both parties plan to force a confrontation that Congress has not seen since 2023: formal resolutions to expel sitting colleagues. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said over the weekend she would introduce a measure to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., 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 Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, Fox News reported.
The twin expulsion threats mark a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, not on policy, but on the principle that members facing serious misconduct allegations should not keep their seats. Whether either resolution can clear the two-thirds majority required to remove a member remains an open question. But the public rhetoric from lawmakers in both parties has moved well past polite suggestion.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that he would vote to expel both men. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote on social media the same day that the members in question "should resign IMMEDIATELY." And Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., framed the moment as a test of institutional credibility. The question now is whether the rest of the chamber will follow through, or let the controversy fade once the news cycle moves on.
Swalwell dropped out of California's 2026 gubernatorial race on Sunday, acknowledging what he called a lack of judgment while pledging to vigorously defend himself. He has called the allegations against him "false." But the political ground beneath him has shifted fast. The Manhattan district attorney's office has opened a criminal investigation into an incident that allegedly occurred in New York City, adding a law-enforcement dimension to what began as a political scandal.
The House Ethics Committee is now investigating whether Swalwell violated House rules, and a growing number of his own Democratic colleagues have called on him to resign. Rep. Andrea Salinas said, "The allegations against him are serious, credible, and demand accountability." Rep. Nellie Pou stated that if members refuse to resign, "the House should debate their removal through expulsion."
Luna's move to file an expulsion resolution against Swalwell puts Republicans in the position of acting on allegations that Democrats spent years ignoring or minimizing. Multiple sexual assault and misconduct allegations have now surfaced against the California congressman, and at least one involves a former staffer.
For those who have followed Swalwell's career, the current crisis did not arrive without warning. Local journalists had previously described his conduct toward women as something of an open secret in Alameda County. That makes the institutional silence all the more damning.
The irony has not been lost on observers. Swalwell built a national profile in part by demanding that accusers of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh "deserve to be heard." Now he faces sharp backlash over the gap between that standard and his own conduct. His denial, a single word, "false", stands against a widening circle of accusers and an active criminal probe.
The Gonzales case carries its own weight. The Texas Republican admitted to having an affair with a staff member who later died by setting herself on fire, a horrific detail that has hung over the story since it became public. Gonzales dropped his re-election bid in March after House GOP leadership called on him to suspend his campaign. The House Ethics Committee is investigating him.
Fernandez's planned expulsion resolution means Gonzales now faces a formal threat from across the aisle, mirroring the pressure Luna is applying to Swalwell. The symmetry is deliberate. Both parties appear eager to demonstrate they will not shield their own.
Donalds made the bipartisan nature of his position explicit on Sunday. Speaking on "Meet the Press," the Florida Republican said:
"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 kind of direct language from a member of his own party signals that Gonzales has few allies left in the Republican conference willing to defend him publicly.
Expelling a member of Congress requires a two-thirds majority, a threshold that has historically made removal almost impossible absent a criminal conviction or extraordinary circumstances. The last member expelled was former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was removed in 2023 and later sentenced to more than seven years in prison. President Trump pardoned Santos in 2025.
Fox News noted that just a handful of members have so far signaled support for removing a lawmaker from their own party. That gap between rhetoric and votes is the central obstacle. It is one thing for Donalds or Mace to declare support for expulsion on a Sunday talk show. It is another to whip 290-plus votes on the House floor.
Jayapal framed the stakes in broad terms on Sunday:
"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."
Whether that sentiment translates into Democratic votes to expel Swalwell, one of their own, remains to be seen. House Democratic leadership has yet to comment on the expulsion efforts targeting either Swalwell or Gonzales.
Swalwell and Gonzales are not the only members whose conduct has drawn scrutiny. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., faces 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 found her guilty of more than two dozen violations in March. The panel is expected to formally recommend punishment later this month, a recommendation that could be as severe as expulsion.
House Democratic leadership indicated it will withhold judgment on Cherfilus-McCormick until the ethics panel announces its decision. That cautious posture stands in contrast to the louder calls for action against Swalwell and Gonzales.
Then there is Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., a former Army combat veteran who has faced allegations of misrepresenting 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 denied wrongdoing. He is the target of a House Ethics Committee investigation and is running for re-election. Whether his case generates the same expulsion momentum remains unclear.
The Manhattan DA's criminal probe into Swalwell adds a legal dimension that distinguishes his situation from members facing only ethics complaints. A criminal investigation carries consequences that no House vote can replicate, or prevent.
The House's return sets up a week that will test whether Congress can police itself. The resolutions from Luna and Fernandez will force members to go on the record. Mace's social media demand, "If they don't, we should expel all of them", captures the impatience felt by lawmakers who believe the institution's credibility is on the line.
Activists and journalists had warned for some time that more allegations involving Swalwell were coming. Those warnings proved correct. Now the question is whether Congress will act with the same urgency it demands of every other institution in American life, or whether it will retreat behind procedural delays and wait for the public to lose interest.
Voters sent these men and women to Washington to govern, not to shield colleagues from accountability. If the House cannot muster the votes to remove members credibly accused of serious misconduct, it will have answered a question about itself that no press release can walk back.
