They once condemned bad behavior in the House. Now, it's 'not my business'

WASHINGTON — Four months ago, calls denouncing misconduct came swiftly, and all at once.

Now, it’s near silence.

Allegations surrounding two House Republicans reached a fever pitch this week, as Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina dropped out of his reelection campaign due to a report detailing “inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers and Rep. Max Miller of Ohio doubled down on denying domestic abuse allegations made by his ex-wife.

With the House gone for August recess, lawmakers often rely on social media and press releases to comment on the issues of the day. But so far it’s crickets from many who previously condemned a pair of colleagues accused of sexual misconduct by their staff earlier this year.

“It’s a leadership problem. Mike Johnson should be saying, ‘I have a problem in my caucus. I have a problem in my Congress, and it is my job to fix that,’” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.

When asked about Miller, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Politico that “domestic events” are “not my business.” He said he spoke with Edwards briefly about the “serious allegations” against him. On social media, Johnson most recently posted about communism in America.

“What should a speaker do in this case?” Johnson told Politico. “I mean, I call out alarming behavior. … We have a very active and engaged Ethics Committee; they’ve done more work than they need to. I wish it wasn’t necessary. But there’s been a lot in this Congress on both sides of the aisle.”

“There’s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time; it’s not my business to get engaged in it,” he added.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not respond to a request for comment on either case and has not publicly called on either to resign.

“Hakeem Jeffries should also speak about it. The leadership could come together, but the thing is, Mike Johnson is in charge of the House. He is the speaker. It is his job,” Goss Graves said. “So I think a question for the possible Speaker Jeffries is, ‘What would you do different? If you had the opportunity to have the gavel next year, will you be different?’”

Rep. Emilia Sykes, vice chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said she hadn’t heard from Democratic leadership about the issue. She added that the midterms approaching in 90 days makes speaking up more complicated politically.

“We are in the business of elections, but we are also in the business of protecting people and making sure that they feel safe, and particularly that the United States House of Representatives is a place where every single person can come,” Sykes said. “But that is not happening because there are so many members of Congress who are behaving badly.”

“[Edwards] ended his reelection campaign, so you would think that it would be safer politically to criticize him and his behavior,” said Emma Davidson Tribbs, founding director at the National Women’s Defense League. “I really don’t understand it.”

The Democratic Women’s Caucus, a group consisting of 96 female lawmakers, called for Miller to resign in a statement released Wednesday — changing their tune from last week, when they had only called for the House Ethics Committee to investigate him.

“He has not only physically harmed women and his own child, he has also insulted the American people and the institution he represents,” DWC Chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., Vice Chair Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., and Sykes, D-Ohio, said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, Miller has been active on social media and on TV, denying that he poured hot water on his ex-wife, among other things. Edwards has maintained that gifts and messages to his female staffers were not meant to be sexual and cited “prayer and reflection” in a pre-dawn social post Wednesday announcing his withdrawal from the race.

The Republican Women’s Caucus Chairwoman Kat Cammack, R-Fla., said in a statement Wednesday that the House should move to censure Edwards, but stopped short of a resignation call. On Miller, she said in an interview with Roll Call Monday that law enforcement should investigate the claims.

Sykes said the GOP Women’s Caucus statement was “fascinating” and that Republican women should be consistent in wanting to protect women.

“I think that they are looking beyond the people that they represent and are thinking only of what the president and their leadership is telling them to do. It is quite unfortunate that they aren’t using this opportunity to stand up for the women in Congress,” she said.

Then and now

Unlike in the spring when a cascade of members took to their social media accounts to denounce now-former Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, after sexual misconduct claims against them, a similar torrent has yet to materialize. As of Wednesday afternoon, many members who have spoken up before had yet to comment on Miller and Edwards.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., was one of the most vocal proponents of expelling members with misconduct evidence earlier this year. “I am so sick of people not calling this crap out. Again, like I’ve said before, this is not the only case of this crap up here,” Luna wrote in February. “[Gonzales], shame on you.”

This week, she had yet to post about Edwards or Miller. One of the few posts she wrote on her personal account Wednesday struck a vague tone: “The truth shall set you free,” she wrote.

Luna’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., posted a number of times about Gonzales and Swalwell in the spring, adding that there should be “ZERO tolerance for those who abuse their power over others.” Most recently, she posted about “transgender experiments on animals.”

“It’s past time to get rid of predators in Congress who prey on women,” Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., wrote on X in April. “As a father of two daughters, it breaks my heart that these women had to endure this kind of trauma while serving constituents.”

McDowell similarly has not posted about the current allegations. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., also called for Gonzales and Swalwell to step down in April but has not made any posts regarding misconduct allegations recently. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.

The quiet response has some questioning whether the House was serious about its efforts to overhaul misconduct standards in light of the spring’s flurry of resignations — and whether those standards apply to conduct outside of the workplace, including domestic violence. A package of recommendations from the Democratic Women’s Caucus and GOP Women’s Caucus is expected to be unveiled after recess, after the two groups were tasked by leadership to work together on the proposal. But Sykes said silence in the House can speak as loud as words.

“It would be very helpful to have more voices to the chorus here,” Sykes said.

“Either you stand up for women or you don’t, and it just seems like in this moment that they are refusing to stand up for women,” she added.