Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) filed a resolution Monday to expel Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) from Congress, the latest flashpoint in a House that has spent the past week consumed by a wave of expulsion fights hitting members from both parties.
The move comes just days after Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) both resigned rather than stick around for expulsion votes that were picking up real momentum. Swalwell had been a frontrunner in the California governor's race before the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, including two rape allegations.
He denied the allegations,but suspended his campaign and eventually resigned, saying it wouldn't be fair to his constituents to stay on while distracted.
Gonzales went out the same day after an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide generated bipartisan calls for his removal. Expulsion resolutions had already been filed against both lawmakers, which appeared to be gaining momentum prior to the resignation announcements.
The back-to-back exits set the tone for what many members now expect to be a second round of expulsion fights, and Mace — who is running for governor of South Carolina — argued the allegations against Mills rises to the level of expulsion.
"Swalwell is gone. Gonzales is gone. Mills is next," she wrote on X. "We need to have the moral courage to do what's right and expel him."
Mills has been under the Ethics Committee's microscope, with an investigative subcommittee having launched last year to dig into allegations that he profited from defense contracts while in Congress, domestically abused a girlfriend in Washington, threatened to release intimate photos of another girlfriend, and exaggerated his military service. Mills has denied everything and argued the allegations against him are different than the two recent resignations since they don’t involve a staffer.
The expulsion resolution comes in the wake of Mace having previously filed a censure resolution against Mills which ultimately was referred to the Ethics Committee.
Mills shot back at Mace on X, arguing Mace is setting a standard she couldn't herself survive.
"What she's essentially saying is that anyone who is under an allegation or accusation, even without any findings, should actually go before expulsion. If that's the case, wouldn't she then herself be setting herself up for expulsion?" he said.
He stopped short of threatening to file anything against her, but didn't close the door either. He wrapped up by calling the whole thing "political theatrics and fundraising for her failed governor's race" and said flatly that she doesn't have the votes.
Mills isn't the only one watching his back. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) is widely expected to face her own expulsion resolution after a House Ethics subcommittee found her guilty of 25 violations tied to allegations she funneled $5 million in FEMA disaster funds into her congressional campaigns. She has denied any wrongdoing.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has been pretty direct about where he stands on her case, predicting expulsion will be "the consensus of this body." On Mills, though, Johnson has been notably more noncommittal, saying he needed to check on where the Ethics investigation stands before offering a view, a distinction Democrats haven't missed.
One GOP lawmaker projected the efforts to expel Mills will likely fail, telling Sources Say News: “Zero chance,” when asked about the odds.
Removing a member of Congress requires a two-thirds majority vote, a bar that has only been cleared a handful of times in American history.
