House committee recommends censure for Rep. Edwards of NC for sexual harassment

WASHINGTON — Rep. Chuck Edwards faces potential censure by his House colleagues after the House Committee on Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” he “violated House Rules related to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces,” the committee said.

Despite that, Edwards and his team continue to say he did nothing wrong.

Axios and NOTUS first reported the House ethics investigation and allegations against Edwards that included:

—Traveling to Las Vegas with an employee 40 years his junior;

—Sending a three-page letter saying an employee had written a complex chapter in his heart;

—Buying two employees a pink and a blue gun;

—Having an employee serenaded at her birthday party;

—Sending an employee a puzzle to invite her to an Adam Sandler comedy show;

—Buying an employee $1,000 jewelry; and

—Buying an employee a designer bag.

The committee’s investigation, which included interviews with 16 people and 1,500 pages of documents, revealed more about the behavior two women in his office experienced with the congressman.

Edwards, 65, of Flat Rock, began representing North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, its far southwestern counties, in 2023, after defeating former Rep. Madison Cawthorn. He is seeking reelection to a third term and is running against Democrat Jamie Ager.

Before representing the district in Congress, Edwards, who is married, was a state senator and a McDonald’s franchise owner, though he sold all his restaurants in recent weeks.

Edwards’ reported actions

The report details that the two young women were among three women who initially worked in Edwards’ state Senate office and were brought to Washington to work with him in Congress.

After one of the employee’s birthday serenade, she told a friend that she no longer believed Edwards viewed her as “just a daughter figure” and that she was “scared lowkey,” the committee reported.

The report gets into specifics about the gifts and events he gave and took employees to.

It says he bought the women shoes, flowers, laptops, cellphones, a KitchenAid mixer, a robotic vacuum, one-on-one dinners and 30 different flavors of ice cream sent at one time to the house of one of the women.

One staffer testified to the committee that when she didn’t wear the jewelry he bought her, he told her he was disappointed.

Edwards told the committee that the gift giving was reciprocal and that they purchased gifts for him “all the time.” The committee wasn’t able to substantiate the claim but did find the women bought him a Miami Dolphins jersey for Christmas.

At Christmas, the report states, Edwards took one young staffer to the White House annual Christmas Party and tried to pressure her into continuing their evening after.

He also skipped House votes to decorate his employee’s Christmas tree, according to the report.

Trips for staff members

One of the women was treated to a trip with friends to New York City and tickets to “Hamilton,” following a breakup the woman experienced, the report shows.

One went to New York with Edwards for a political trip, then both she and the congressman stayed an extra day to celebrate his birthday with a helicopter ride, dinner and a show. He testified that it was her idea, but evidence showed it was his.

There were also casinos. He took one employee to a casino, bought her drinks and paid for her to gamble. He would later print out a text she sent him thanking him for a fun night, drawing hearts next to the message and writing “Perhaps my proudest personal moment.” From there he pitched the idea to travel to Las Vegas together, which they did.

He would talk to his young staffers about visiting strip clubs.

At one congressional event, Edwards left early because his staffer brought a date, and he told her he didn’t “want to be in the way of something to that effect.”

“The Committee found that Representative Edwards engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers,” the report states. “While Representative Edwards denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, his pattern of behavior would lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such, including providing the young women with lavish and recurrent gifts, making comments regarding their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations, sending notes regarding his effusive affection, and inviting them to other activities as a way to spend time together.”

Edwards denies wrongdoing

Edwards denied wrongdoing both to the committee and to the media.

On Monday, after the report’s release, Edwards’ campaign adviser, Paul Shumaker, sent McClatchy a statement saying Edwards is exonerated.

“The Committee findings completely exonerate Rep. Edwards under the House rules governing sexual harassment; they contradict the committee’s conclusion,” Shumaker said. “They conclude that he neither engaged in sexual activity with nor explicitly propositioned any individual staff members.”

The committee noted there is no evidence that Edwards engaged in sexual activity or propositioned the young women.

But the stance Edwards took about his behavior during the investigation concerned the committee, according to their report.

“In his interview with the Committee, the Congressman repeatedly asserted that he knows well what constitutes ‘sexual harassment,’ and seemed to believe that by avoiding inappropriate physical touch, explicitly sexual comments, and occasionally telling the staffers that they were free to put up boundaries with him, he had immunized himself from such a charge,” the committee wrote. “That is not the case.

“Despite the absence of an explicit proposition, a reasonable person could interpret Representative Edwards’ intimate and effusive attentions, where he prioritized the personal over the professional, as thinly veiled advances.”

The committee went on to say that there is also contemporaneous evidence and testimony that Edwards’ conduct was abusive.

“Even under the exacting standards of federal employment law, Representative Edwards’ conduct at minimum exposed his office to the litigation risk of a viable sexual harassment lawsuit,” the committee wrote.

Shumaker, the campaign adviser, defended Edwards by saying the committee did not implicate quid pro quo sexual harassment.

“However, the committee staff has taken it upon themselves to write their own rules based upon an interpretation that is inconsistent with the written rules of law or House rules,” Shumaker said.

The report made clear that Edwards found excuses for his behavior, including that it would be an insult in Washington not to compliment someone’s clothing.

Edwards cooperated with the committee, but the report said committee members found that he deleted messages or omitted evidence about his treatment toward the women. At times, those deletions made it appear that the women initiated the situations, the report said.

Rumors and innuendo

The committee also noted that Edwards was aware that his behavior led to rumors and innuendo in the office and outside.

“Both women were uncomfortable with his behavior (which they attempted to communicate) but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress,” the committee stated.

A senior staffer tried to step in and confronted Edwards in May 2025. It was around that time that McClatchy first began asking Edwards’ team about the allegation. It was also around that time that police were called on Edwards based on allegations that he assaulted a man at a Rotarian meeting with a clipboard. He was not charged.

The senior staffer told the committee Edwards “got very angry” and he expressed that she didn’t understand their “unique relationship.”

The employee told the committee she told Edwards it made other staffers resentful of the young women. He told the staffer he was “more aware of how the staff might be reacting” but did not appreciate the senior staffer telling him about the discomfort of the two women and didn’t stop his behavior.

‘Beyond inappropriate’

The committee was also provided evidence that Edwards blamed senior staff members for “getting in the way” of his relationships with the young women, and he would guilt-trip the young women when they tried to draw boundaries.

“Taken individually, many of Representative Edwards’ actions were at minimum inappropriate; a Member of Congress should not single out a staffer and isolate them from other staff, make frequent comments regarding that person’s appearance and weight, send messages in the middle of the night, text staff deeply personal and seemingly romantic thoughts, intrude on personal occasions without invitation, pay for personal vacations, and spend thousands of dollars on gifts for staffers,” the committee wrote. “That Representative Edwards did all these things to two young staffers, repeatedly over a sustained period, was beyond inappropriate.”

The committee said Edwards acknowledges “at least some of his behavior could be viewed as inappropriate but that he has not acknowledged or taken responsibility for the harm he caused.” They said at best he’s blind to what his actions did to the young women’s well-beings and careers, and at worse, dismissive of it.

Both women testified they quit their jobs in Washington because of it.

“The Committee is concerned that the House regrettably lost two staffers because of Representative Edwards’ conduct,” they wrote. “In this environment, where Members of Congress hold substantial influence, many individuals are reluctant to report misconduct when balancing the fear of reprisal against the potential for accountability.”

Accountability

After reviewing the report, Edwards waived parts of the investigation process, which allowed the committee to move forward from seeking sanctions against him.

The committee plans to bring a privilege resolution to the House floor to seek a censure against him.

If censured, Edwards must stand at the front of the House for the pronouncement of the censure with a public reading of the resolution by the speaker.

Edwards’ team doesn’t seem to think it will come to that.

“Rep. Edwards looks forward to having his name cleared and will work to ensure that the full light of day is brought on this process and that every member of Congress and the public can see the attempt to harm the congressman who has brought no harm to others.”

Edwards defeated Cawthorn, now 31, after a series of his own scandals that included calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a thug,” and a leaked tape of him in bed with his cousin that was sexually suggestive.

Edwards, Cawthorn and former Rep. Mark Meadows complete a trilogy of congressman representing that district who became stories themselves for their personal actions.

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