U.S. Congresswomen Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, left, appeared in Miami federal court on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, but did not enter a plea to charges that she stole $5 million in federal disaster relief funds.
Pedro Portal | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from the House of Representatives effective immediately on Tuesday, less than an hour before its Ethics Committee was set to discuss what sanctions to impose on the Florida Democrat for violating more than two dozen House rules and ethical standards.
Cherfilus-McCormick, 47, is the third House member to resign since April 13.
On April 13, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rep. Tony Gonzalez, a Texas Republican, said they would resign in the face of separate allegations of sexual misconduct.
Cherifilus-McCormick faces a pending criminal case in U.S. District Court in Miami on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in Covid-19 disaster relief funds allocated to her family’s health-care business, a portion of which was then allegedly contributed to her 2022 congressional campaign.
The Ethics Committee’s own case against her relates to her use of the funds for the campaign. The congresswoman faced the prospect of a vote by the House on whether to expel her after the Ethics Committee issued its sanctions.
Before she resigned, Cherifilus-McCormick had been seeking re-election for a fourth term representing Florida’s 20th congressional district.
In her resignation statement, which was posted on X, Cherfilus-McCormick, who denies any wrongdoing, said the Ethics Committee’s process in dealing with allegations against her was unfair.
“By going forward with this process while a criminal indictment is pending, the Committee prevented me from defending myself,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt.”
“I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished.”
The legal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, in a statement, called Cherifilus-McCormick’s resignation “beyond overdue,” saying CREW had called for her to leave the House two months ago.
“Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick did the right thing by stepping down, but she should not have waited until the moment before potential expulsion to do so,” said CREW President Donald Sherman in a statement.
“The wrongdoing alleged in the federal indictment and corroborated in the Committee’s investigation demonstrated that she should not have authority over the appropriation of taxpayer funds,” Sherman said.
“Rather than resigning sooner, she spent months dragging the scandal on while cashing paychecks from American taxpayers. You don’t get credit for doing the right thing only when forced to, after repeatedly doing the wrong thing.”
