Bipartisan PURGE Coming—Congress Braces for Bloodbath

(DailyChive.com) – Bipartisan lawmakers are launching an unprecedented coordinated effort to expel multiple scandal-plagued House members facing sexual misconduct allegations, ethics violations, and financial crimes—a move that exposes the deep rot festering in Congress while leadership remains conspicuously silent.

Story Snapshot

Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) face immediate expulsion votes upon the House’s return April 14, 2026, amid sexual misconduct allegations and active criminal probes.
Reps. Cory Mills (R-FL) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) emerge as next targets, with McCormick found guilty by the Ethics Committee of money laundering and campaign finance abuses totaling over $5 million.
Bipartisan lawmakers, including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Byron Donalds, and Nancy Mace, demand paired expulsion votes to prevent partisan shield tactics and restore congressional accountability.
The rare push requires a two-thirds majority—historically difficult to achieve—while House leadership stays silent, avoiding intra-party conflict despite mounting public outrage over congressional misconduct.

Bipartisan Expulsion Push Targets Four Members

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) plans to consult with the House parliamentarian on April 14, 2026, to force paired expulsion votes targeting Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. Tony Gonzales. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) countered Luna’s Swalwell resolution with a Gonzales measure, creating a bipartisan accountability framework. The coordinated approach prevents either party from protecting its members while attacking the opposition—a tactic that has historically shielded congressional wrongdoers. Reps. Cory Mills and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick await similar treatment, with lawmakers from both parties signaling support for removing all four members implicated in serious misconduct.

Sexual Misconduct Allegations Drive Immediate Action

Swalwell faces a Manhattan District Attorney criminal investigation after a former staffer accused him in the San Francisco Chronicle of multiple sexual assaults. The California Democrat dropped out of the 2026 gubernatorial race, admitting “lack of judgment” while denying the allegations and vowing to defend himself. Gonzales, who is not seeking re-election, admitted to a relationship with a staffer amid House Ethics Committee investigations into sexual misconduct. The Gonzales case involves allegations of inappropriate conduct that prompted the Ethics probe earlier in 2026. Both members deny wrongdoing despite ongoing investigations, refusing to resign as bipartisan pressure mounts for their removal from Congress.

Ethics Violations and Financial Crimes Exposed

The House Ethics Committee found Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick guilty in March 2026 of over two dozen rule violations, including money laundering, false statements, and funneling more than $5 million in disaster relief funds to her campaign and personal use. The Florida Democrat faces potential decades in prison but continues to deny wrongdoing while running for re-election. Rep. Cory Mills faces separate Ethics Committee investigations into domestic violence allegations, stolen valor claims, and financial misconduct involving ties to defense contractors. The Mills and Cherfilus-McCormick cases mirror the financial abuses that led to Rep. George Santos’s expulsion in 2023, though Santos received a presidential pardon from President Trump in 2025.

Two-Thirds Threshold Creates Uphill Battle

House expulsion requires a two-thirds majority vote, a threshold used only 22 times in congressional history, predominantly during the Civil War era. The Santos expulsion in 2023 represents the most recent successful removal, achieved through bipartisan disgust over campaign fraud and lies. Political science experts, including Jon Taylor of the University of Texas at San Antonio, express skepticism about achieving the necessary votes, calling the effort “stunning” given the members’ terms end in January 2027. Leadership silence from Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leaders suggests reluctance to force members into politically costly votes. The bipartisan reciprocity strategy attempts to overcome partisan protection by pairing votes, forcing members to choose institutional integrity over party loyalty.

Rank-and-File Lawmakers Bypass Silent Leadership

Rep. Byron Donalds stated on NBC that the allegations are “despicable” and “both need to go home,” while Rep. Nancy Mace demanded to “expel all of them.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) joined Republican colleagues in supporting removal, creating an unusual cross-ideological coalition. The vocal support from rank-and-file members contrasts sharply with leadership’s refusal to comment or schedule floor time for the resolutions. This dynamic exposes a familiar pattern: congressional leaders prioritize political calculations and re-election prospects over addressing misconduct that erodes public trust. Voters across the political spectrum increasingly view such inaction as evidence that elected officials serve themselves rather than constituents, reinforcing perceptions of a corrupt ruling class indifferent to accountability.

Congress Faces Institutional Credibility Crisis

The expulsion push occurs amid historically low public trust in Congress, with scandals amplifying demands for reform that transcend partisan divisions. Special elections triggered by successful expulsions would disrupt the lame-duck session in a narrowly divided House, creating political risks leadership appears unwilling to accept. Failure to remove members credibly accused of serious crimes and ethics violations risks cementing public cynicism about congressional self-policing. The precedent set by this bipartisan effort could either restore faith in institutional accountability or confirm suspicions that the two-thirds threshold exists primarily to protect the politically connected. Both possibilities carry profound implications for the 2028 election cycle and the future of congressional ethics enforcement.