Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez admitted Tuesday that he cheated on his wife, and by Wednesday afternoon, he was leading the primary field in his Los Angeles congressional race with nearly 46 percent of the vote. Voters in California's 34th Congressional District, it appears, were either unmoved by the confession or hadn't heard it yet.
Gomez, 51, told CNN he had made "personal mistakes outside my marriage that have caused real pain to my wife and family." The admission came months after the New York Post reported in April that Gomez had been spotted kissing a much younger congressional aide outside a Washington, D.C. party in the summer of 2023. At the time, a Gomez spokesperson told the Post the accounts were "not true" and that the makeout session "didn't happen."
Now Gomez concedes it did happen, or at least that something happened. The question is whether it matters enough to cost him his seat.
The timeline tells a familiar story of political damage control. In the summer of 2023, Gomez was reportedly seen kissing the aide outside a backyard party hosted by former Rep. Eric Swalwell to celebrate the start of the August congressional recess. The Post broke the story in April. Gomez's office denied it flatly.
Then, on the eve of the primary, Gomez reversed course. He told CNN the extramarital relations were "consensual" and offered an apology.
"I sincerely apologize to my wife, family, friends and the people that I have the privilege to serve."
He also claimed his conduct broke no laws and violated no House ethics rules, a characterization that sits uneasily alongside reports that the House Ethics Committee is investigating him over unspecified sexual misconduct allegations. Gomez has indicated he does not plan to resign.
The congressman's shift from denial to confession in a matter of weeks is the kind of credibility problem that would end careers in most professions. In Congress, it apparently gets you through a primary. Swalwell, the party host at the center of the 2023 incident, has faced his own cascade of allegations, his California governor bid collapsed over sexual misconduct claims.
As of Wednesday afternoon, with 60 percent of ballots counted, Gomez held nearly 46 percent of the vote, enough to send the incumbent through to the November general election. Five other candidates competed for the second and final runoff spot.
Angela Gonzales-Torres, a fellow Democrat backed by Justice Democrats and the California Working Families Party, sat in the No. 2 position with more than 25 percent. She wasted no time drawing a contrast. On X, Gonzales-Torres wrote:
"Angelenos, we deserve better. Like I said, if he has nothing to hide, he has nothing to worry about. But I've also said, since day one of this campaign, that our community deserves real representation and real respect and we will accept nothing less."
Gonzales-Torres will likely make Gomez's conduct a centerpiece of the November race. Whether that argument gains traction in a heavily Democratic district remains an open question.
One detail makes the whole episode harder to look past. Gomez founded the Congressional Dads Caucus, a group meant to signal that he takes family responsibilities seriously. That branding now reads less like a policy commitment and more like a punchline.
Gomez said he has sought "professional assistance" for his conduct. He framed the matter as a private failing with no public consequences, telling CNN that "although my actions were consensual in nature and haven't violated the law or House ethics rules, that doesn't diminish the impact that these mistakes have made on those I care about the most."
His office did not respond to further inquiries after the admission. The House Ethics Committee investigation, meanwhile, remains unresolved. No details about the specific allegations, the scope of the probe, or any committee findings have been made public.
The pattern of conduct described in the reporting, an incumbent congressman kissing a much younger aide at a party thrown by a colleague who later faced his own misconduct scandal, raises the kind of questions that ethics investigations exist to answer. A criminal probe was opened into Swalwell's own alleged behavior, and reporting has suggested that troubling conduct by Swalwell was widely known long before it became public.
Not every Democrat is willing to shrug this off. An unnamed Democratic source offered a blunt assessment of Gomez, calling him "a sleazebag" and saying he "should resign and use his free time to trade war stories with Swalwell." That quote captures a frustration inside the party that rarely finds its way into official statements.
But frustration and accountability are different things. Gomez advanced. He holds a comfortable lead. And no Democratic leader of any stature has publicly called on him to step aside.
This is a recurring feature of how the party handles scandal. Swalwell himself once demanded that accusers of Brett Kavanaugh "deserve to be heard", a standard he and his allies seem less eager to apply to their own ranks. The willingness to tolerate compromised candidates when a seat is at stake is not unique to either party, but Democrats have made a particular brand of claiming the moral high ground on these issues. That claim rings hollow when a congressman can deny misconduct for months, reverse himself on the eve of a primary, and still cruise to a runoff.
The broader pattern, standing by scandal-plagued candidates when political convenience demands it, is not a bug. It's a feature.
Gomez now faces Gonzales-Torres in the November general election. The Ethics Committee probe hangs over the race. Whether voters in the 34th District care enough to punish an incumbent who lied about an affair and is under congressional investigation will say something about the state of accountability in American politics.
The facts are plain. Gomez's spokesperson said the kissing incident was "not true." Gomez now says he made "personal mistakes outside my marriage." Those two statements cannot both be accurate. One of them was a lie told to voters and to the press.
Gomez says he hasn't broken any rules. The Ethics Committee apparently thinks the question is worth investigating. And the congressman who founded the Dads Caucus will spend the next several months asking voters to trust him again.
When the people who write the rules can't follow the ones they expect from everyone else, the rules start to mean nothing at all.
