House Censures Chuck Edwards 413-2 Over Staffers

The House censured Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., on Tuesday in a 413-2 vote after a bipartisan Ethics Committee investigation found he engaged in "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct" toward two young female staffers.

The only no votes came from Edwards himself and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., NBC News reported.

Edwards, 65 and in his second term, was required to stand in the well of the chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson read the resolution aloud. Censure is a formal rebuke; it does not remove him from office.

What the Ethics Report Found

The committee's 25-page report, released in early August, said Edwards gave the two women lavish gifts — jewelry, designer purses, handguns, flowers, a KitchenAid mixer, a robotic vacuum and tickets to "Hamilton" — commented frequently on their appearance and weight, invited them to one-on-one dinners and vacations, and sent notes of "effusive affection."

Per the report, Edwards arranged for a singer to perform Ed Sheeran's "Hills of Aberfeldy" at one woman's birthday party and say it was "from a special someone." He wrote her poems, including one he read aloud at her going-away party in the office, where he cried. He paid for massages and spa treatments, skipped House votes to help decorate her Christmas tree, and took her on a casino trip where he bought her drinks and paid for her to gamble. Text messages showed he sent roughly 30 kinds of ice cream to her home to cheer her up; she replied, "Thank you, but this seems a bit excessive."

The other staffer was brought on a political trip to New York, where Edwards planned a helicopter ride, dinner and a Broadway show around his birthday, and he brought her flowers before picking her up for a White House holiday event.

The panel found no evidence that Edwards "engaged in sexual activity with or explicitly propositioned any individual under his employ." It concluded anyway that he violated the House Code of Official Conduct by failing to adhere to the spirit of rules barring sexual harassment and unwanted advances, writing that "a reasonable person could interpret Representative Edwards' intimate and effusive attentions... as thinly veiled advances."

The report said Edwards "knew or had reason to know" as early as May 2025 that the conduct made the women uncomfortable, after a senior staffer raised it with him on their behalf.