Chuck Edwards

A Republican congressman from North Carolina is dropping his bid for reelection after a House panel recommended that he be censured for his inappropriate behavior with his female staffers.

Representative Chuck Edwards, a two-term congressman, announced his decision in a social media post shared early Wednesday morning. “After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my re-election campaign. 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,” Edwards wrote.

Edwards’ decision comes just several days after the House Ethics Committee issued its findings from its investigation into allegations that the North Carolina Republican created a hostile work environment for his staffers, an inquiry that began in May. In its report, the committee wrote that it had found that Edwards “engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers”:

Both women were uncomfortable with his behavior (which they attempted to communicate) but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress. Representative Edwards was at minimum blind to that reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had on the careers and wellbeing of two women on his staff. The Committee has determined to recommend the House censure Representative Edwards for his conduct.

The committee’s report detailed numerous instances of Edwards’ creepy and untoward behavior towards two staffers: one woman who was a recent college graduate and another woman who was in her early twenties. The congressman would reportedly comment on the staffers’ appearances and their outfits, saying they looked “pretty” or “breathtaking.” Edwards would often send the women personal text messages after hours.

Per the report, both women received an extensive amount of lavish gifts that 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.” One woman said that she felt “obligated” to wear a necklace Edwards gifted her and that the congressman told her he was “disappointed” when he saw her without it on.

The congressman’s behavior frequently extended beyond the office, with Edwards reportedly helping one staffer with yardwork and even skipping votes one evening to help her to decorate her Christmas tree. In one notable instance, Edwards paid for that same staffer and her friend to travel to New York City and to see the musical Hamilton because the staffer had recently gone through a breakup.

The report revealed that Edwards even wrote poems for one of the staffers, describing one notorious moment when the congressman, accompanied by a slide show, read one of the poems during her going away party and even cried during. “Several staffers present testified that they felt uncomfortable, and Representative Edwards acknowledged in his own testimony that he could tell the staff felt uncomfortable,” the report said.

The Ethics Committee found that Edwards was aware that his behavior made both staffers uncomfortable as early as May 2025 when a senior staffer approached him on the women’s behalf to discuss his conduct. But, in her testimony to the committee, the staffer said that Edwards said she “didn’t understand the unique relationship” he had with the two women and that he got “very angry.”

“The Committee received evidence that Representative Edwards blamed other staffers for ‘getting in the way’ of his relationships with the two women, and that he would attempt to ‘guilt trip’ the women when they attempted to draw boundaries,” the report read.

Both women ultimately left the office, the report noting that they both reported being the subject of rumors that they were having an affair with Edwards. Edwards reportedly sent one of the women a handwritten letter after she quit, writing that she had “written a complex chapter in my heart that I will never stop reading.”

Edwards’ team initially rejected the committee’s conclusion, filing a 15-page rebuttal that said the panel “failed to demonstrate that either of the two staffers expressed discomfort to Representative Edwards regarding his conduct with them.” But pressure began to mount for Edwards to drop his bid with the Raleigh News & Observer reporting that North Carolina Senator Ted Budd had reached out to the congressman and encouraged him to leave the race. CNN reports that House Republican leaders were working to convince Edwards to drop out following the report’s release, citing sources familiar.

Edwards, who previously served in the North Carolina state Senate, was elected to the House in 2022 after defeating the scandal-ridden Representative Madison Cawthorn and was reelected in 2024. The congressman likely faced an uphill battle against Democratic nominee Jamie Ager following the Ethics report. Now, the local Republican Party will be required to select a new candidate to run in the 11th Congressional District.