The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Tuesday evening to formally censure outgoing Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., following allegations that he sexually harassed two former female staffers.
Lawmakers approved the censure resolution in a lopsided 413-2 vote, delivering the House’s most severe form of punishment short of expulsion.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., joined Edwards as the only other member of Congress to vote against the resolution.
The House’s rebuke followed a months-long investigation conducted by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. In a report released in August, the committee concluded that Edwards had engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.”
The committee recommended that the North Carolina Republican be censured over his behavior.
According to the report, Edwards frequently made comments about the women’s appearances and weight. Investigators also detailed late-night messages, intensely personal text exchanges, one-on-one dinners and thousands of dollars in gifts.
The gifts allegedly included jewelry, designer purses, firearms, shoes, flowers, electronic devices, vacations and a KitchenAid mixer.
Although the committee said it did not find evidence that Edwards had sex with either woman or explicitly propositioned them, investigators still found “substantial evidence” that his conduct crossed professional boundaries.
The committee concluded that Edwards’ behavior “violated the spirit of the House’s prohibition on sexual harassment and unwanted advances” and contributed to a hostile work environment for the two former employees.
Before Tuesday’s vote, Edwards addressed his fellow lawmakers from the House floor and urged them to evaluate the evidence rather than rely on outside characterizations of the controversy.
“Judge me on the facts, not on the inference, insinuation or headlines,” Edwards said.
Edwards also apologized directly to the two former staffers, acknowledging that they may have viewed their relationships with him differently than he did.
“I recognize now that my understanding of those relationships may not have always matched yours,” he told the women.
However, Edwards continued to deny that his behavior constituted sexual harassment.
“Regret is not an admission of sexual harassment,” Edwards said.
Earlier this month, Edwards sent a 22-page letter to his House colleagues disputing the allegations and attempting to defend the conduct described by the Ethics Committee.
In the lengthy response, Edwards argued that compliments, poetry, social interactions and close relationships with colleagues should not automatically be treated as sexual misconduct.
“A compliment is not sexual misconduct. Poetry is not sexual misconduct. Socializing with a colleague is not sexual misconduct,” Edwards wrote.
“Caring deeply about someone with whom you have worked and come to know for years is not sexual misconduct,” he added.
Those arguments ultimately failed to sway all but one of Edwards’ colleagues. With the chamber voting 413-2, the House formally censured the outgoing Republican over conduct that the Ethics Committee determined was inappropriate and created a hostile workplace.
