Bipartisan members of the House of Representatives have called for the House Ethics Committee to accelerate its investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA). The request comes as the committee confirmed Monday it is reviewing claims that Gomez violated House rules by having inappropriate sexual contact with a staffer.
The investigation follows reports from earlier this year regarding the California Democrat. In April, the New York Post reported that Gomez was seen in 2023 kissing a younger staffer who was employed by a different House Democrat. CNN later reported in June that the Ethics Committee had begun an inquiry into the matter.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Democratic Women’s Caucus, led by Chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) and Vice Chairs Reps. Emilia Sykes (D-OH) and Hillary Scholten (D-MI), urged the committee to disclose the status of the probe before the 60-day blackout period that precedes Election Day. Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), chair of the Republican Women’s Caucus, also called for urgency, stating that if the allegations are substantiated, Gomez should resign and face potential prosecution. Attorneys for an unnamed witness stated Wednesday that their client told the committee she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Gomez.
The scale of the impact involves the integrity of workplace protections for the thousands of House staffers who work on Capitol Hill. A substantiated finding would reinforce the 2023 House rules regarding workplace harassment, while a dismissal would clear a sitting member of Congress of allegations that have been public since April. The involvement of the bipartisan women's caucuses indicates a specific focus on how the House handles allegations of sexual assault and harassment brought by female subordinates against high-ranking male officials.
The immediate day-to-day change for the involved parties is the transition from an informal inquiry to a formal Ethics Committee investigation, which includes sworn testimony from witnesses like the one represented by attorneys Lisa Banks and Sarah Nesbitt. For the public, the next concrete step is the potential release of an Ethics Committee report. Gomez has maintained that his actions were "consensual in nature" and did not violate law or House rules. The committee has not yet announced a specific deadline for the completion of the probe or the release of its findings.