Overview
- The House voted to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards on Tuesday, Sept. 1, in a 413-2 vote that requires him to stand in the chamber as the rebuke is read aloud.
- A bipartisan House Ethics Committee concluded in August that Edwards engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female staffers and recommended censure.
- The committee’s report documents lavish gifts and personal attention, including jewelry, designer items, trips, handwritten notes and personalized handguns, which it said crossed workplace boundaries.
- Edwards withdrew from his re-election campaign after the report, denies that he committed sexual harassment, circulated a 22-page rebuttal to colleagues and apologized without admitting the committee’s conclusions.
- GOP leaders largely left the vote to individual members, with some senior Republicans saying they would support censure, and the episode is accelerating a bipartisan push to change reporting, retaliation protections and other misconduct rules while forcing the North Carolina GOP to name a replacement nominee before absentee ballots are mailed.