House votes 413-2 to formally censure Rep. Chuck Edwards over staff conduct

Ethics chairman says case lacked quid pro quo sexual harassment

The House voted 413-2 on Tuesday to formally censure Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., after a House Ethics Committee investigation concluded he had engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female staffers in his congressional office.

A censure registers the House’s deep disapproval of a lawmaker’s conduct that does not meet the threshold for expulsion from office. The 413-2 vote on Tuesday formally imposed the sanction on Edwards.

Rep. Michael Guest, the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, said the Edwards case did not involve what he called “quid pro quo sexual harassment,” but rather conduct and behavior that created a hostile work environment. Guest’s distinction between the two categories was central to the committee’s characterization of Edwards’ conduct.

The Ethics Committee’s investigation examined allegations about Edwards’ behavior toward the two young female staffers working in his office. The committee concluded that he engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward them.

Guest’s characterization of the conduct as a hostile work environment rather than quid pro quo sexual harassment was the committee’s central public framing of its finding. The House’s 413-2 vote endorsed that framing.

The 413-2 vote was the latest instance of the House grappling with revelations about lawmakers’ behavior toward female staffers. That trend prompted House leaders to launch a bipartisan review this year focused on making Capitol Hill a safer job environment for women.

Edwards is a Republican from North Carolina.

MSI previously reported that the House Ethics Committee opened its investigation into Edwards on May 15, 2026.