GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards drops re-election bid after scathing House ethics report finds ‘inappropriate conduct’

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) announced early Wednesday that he was ending his bid for a third House term, two days after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured by his colleagues for “unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers.

“After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my re-election campaign,” Edwards wrote in a statement posted on X at 3:30 a.m. “I will complete my current term. Serving Western North Carolina has been the honor of my life. Thank you for your trust, prayers, and support. God bless WNC and America.”

Chuck Edwards speaks to the press in Flat Rock, North Carolina, after his primary win on May 17, 2022. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Edwards, a 65-year-old married father and grandfather, “went beyond norms of professional behavior by giving both women lavish gifts,” “commenting on the two women’s appearance,” and “inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations,” according to the 20-page report released Monday.

At the time, both aides were in their early 20s.

On one occasion, the lawmaker arranged for a professional singer to attend a birthday party for one of the women and perform Ed Sheeran’s song “Hills of Aberfeldy” — and tell her only it was a gift “from a special someone,” the report stated.

“The Committee received evidence that [the staffer] told a friend this led her to believe that the Congressman did not view her as ‘just a daughter figure’ and that she was ‘scared lowkey.’”

Edwards also paid for the same staffer and a friend to take a trip to New York City, “including tickets to ‘Hamilton,’ after she had gone through a breakup,” the bipartisan committee found.

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) announced early Wednesday that he was ending his bid for a third House term, two days after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured by his colleagues for “unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers. US Congress

Other gifts heaped on the women by the congressman included “jewelry totaling over $1,000, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.”

“Staffer 1 said she did not feel obligated to wear the purse or jewelry Representative Edwards gave her, but Staffer 2 felt ‘obligated to wear’ a necklace he bought her and when she stopped wearing it, ‘he made a comment about . . . how disappointed he is that I’m not willing to wear what he got me,'” according to the report.

Edwards also discussed “going to strip clubs in Washington” with one of the women “and other staffers”, sent “personal texts late in the evenings,” and wrote the female staffer for whom he arranged the birthday performance and NYC trip a poem “that he read at her going away party in the congressional office accompanied by a slideshow, during which he cried.”

On the last occasion, the committee recorded that ” [s]everal staffers present testified that they felt uncomfortable, and Representative Edwards acknowledged in his own testimony that he could tell the staff felt uncomfortable.”

After another outing with the same woman, the committee found, Edwards printed out a text message exchange in which she thanked the congressman for the “fun night,” next to which he “drew a heart” and hand-wrote “Perhaps my proudest personal moment!”

In November 2025, Edwards met the now-former staffer in Las Vegas for a weekend that was abbreviated by the congressman being called back to DC to vote on ending the government shutdown.

When interviewed by investigators, the woman “testified that she ultimately felt pressured to go in part because of his persistence and in part because Representative Edwards continued to have influence over her career in another public service role.”

Edwards, in the report, was quoted as having “denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, [but] his pattern of behavior would lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such.”

Other staffers claimed that Edwards “gave these women preferential treatment, which negatively impacted morale in the office,” while ethics investigators determined that the congressman “intentionally delet[ed] messages to these women that were particularly inappropriate” and provided other texts to the committee “in such a way to create the appearance that the women were initiating contact, he was not responding, or they were expressing greater interest in conversing with him than he was with them.”

“While it is accurate that both Staffer 1 and Staffer 2 sent messages expressing gratitude and an interest in spending time with Representative Edwards outside of the office, their relationships with Representative Edwards evolved over time into something that made them uncomfortable but that they did not know how to handle,” the report concluded.

Edwards has represented North Carolina’s Republican-leaning 11th District since 2023, after unseating controversial right-wing Rep. Madison Cawthorn in a primary the previous year.

In March, Edwards cruised to renomination, defeating challenger Adam Smith by 40 percentage points. But Democrats had expressed optimism about flipping the seat even before Edwards’ ethics controversy, with nominee Jamie Ager significantly outraising the incumbent.