NEED TO KNOW

• The House voted 357-65 on March 4 to refer Rep. Nancy Mace's resolution to the Ethics Committee, effectively killing her push to release all congressional sexual misconduct records
• 175 Republicans and 182 Democrats voted to bury the measure — the same week Rep. Tony Gonzales admitted to an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide and announced he will not seek reelection
• The House separately approved a subpoena for records of taxpayer-funded settlements from a congressional workplace fund predating 2018, a move that passed with bipartisan support

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — The House of Representatives voted 357-65 Wednesday to refer a resolution by Rep. Nancy Mace to the House Ethics Committee — a procedural step that effectively killed her push to make public all congressional sexual misconduct investigation records. The lopsided result drew an unusual coalition: 175 Republicans and 182 Democrats voted together to shelve the measure, while only 38 Republicans and 27 Democrats sided with Mace. For a chamber that rarely agrees on anything, the 357-65 vote was a near-unanimous act of institutional self-protection.

The vote came the same day the Ethics Committee announced a formal investigation into Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who admitted on a conservative radio program that he had an affair with a staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, who died by suicide in September 2025. By Thursday, House Republican leaders had urged Gonzales to withdraw from his reelection race, and he announced he would not seek another term. The sequence — misconduct confirmed, Ethics probe opened, member pushed out — unfolded in 48 hours, yet the vehicle Mace had designed to surface similar cases across the institution was buried with votes from both parties.

What Mace's Resolution Would Have Done

House Resolution 1072 directed the Ethics Committee to preserve and publicly release, within 60 days, all reports related to investigations into sexual harassment, unwelcome sexual advances and sexual assault involving members of Congress — in their official duties, on their campaigns, with lobbyists and in their private affairs. Victims' personally identifiable information would have been redacted. The resolution did not create new investigative authority; it directed disclosure of findings already in the committee's possession.

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Mace, a self-described sexual assault survivor running for governor of South Carolina, framed the measure as the minimum transparency standard a functioning institution should meet. She introduced it after reporting emerged about the Gonzales case, but explicitly noted he was not the only reason.

"Congress has been sweeping this under the rug for far too long. Tony Gonzales may be the latest example, but he's not the only one." — Rep. Nancy Mace

The resolution was part of a broader accountability push that included a separate subpoena motion Mace offered in the House Oversight Committee — approved by voice vote — directing the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to produce records of all taxpayer-funded settlements paid through a congressional workplace fund for member misconduct predating December 2018. That narrower measure cleared; the broader disclosure resolution did not.

The Ethics Committee's Defense — and Its Limits

The Ethics Committee's bipartisan leadership — Chairman Michael Guest of Mississippi and Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier of California — urged members to vote against the resolution before the floor vote, arguing disclosure would cause institutional harm.

"Victims may be retraumatized by public disclosures of interim work product, excerpts of interview transcripts, and certain exhibits. And witnesses, who often only speak to the Committee confidentially or on condition of future anonymity, could fear retaliation if their cooperation is made public." — Rep. Michael Guest and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, joint statement

"Here and elsewhere, perpetrators of sexual misconduct should never be shielded from responsibility for their misdeeds." — Rep. Michael Guest and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier

The committee's argument reflects a genuine structural tension in misconduct investigations: the same confidentiality that protects witnesses and encourages victims to come forward also shields findings from the public whose representatives are under investigation. That tension is not invented — it appears in debates over Title IX proceedings, judicial conduct reviews and other institutional processes where transparency and victim protection pull in opposite directions.

But critics noted that the Ethics Committee's own procedures already allow it to choose whether to release findings once a case is complete — meaning members benefit from a system where the committee decides what, if anything, the public ever sees. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted against the resolution, posted a detailed explanation arguing Mace's text was too broad, risked releasing unsubstantiated allegations, provided no mechanism for victim consent and could inadvertently identify victims even with redactions — a substantive objection that differed from the leadership's institutional defense.

"The text would have released documents tied to allegations that were false or unsubstantiated, offered no mechanism for victim consent, and risked identifying victims even if names were redacted." — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Vote Breakdown — and What It Reveals

Democratic leadership did not formally whip the vote but made clear to members it would personally vote no. According to reporting by Axios, leadership informed members that the concern was protecting victims and avoiding the publication of unverified allegations. Individual members were left to vote their consciences — which produced a result where swing-district centrists and progressives alike voted against the measure. Among those who crossed party lines to support Mace: Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Rep. Ro Khanna of California.

On the Republican side, Rep. Cory Mills of Florida — who has himself faced scrutiny over personal conduct — voted with Mace. The broader Republican conference voted 175-38 to refer the resolution to committee, despite months of leadership calls for accountability on the Gonzales matter specifically.

Mace did not soften her assessment after the vote.

"Both parties colluded today to protect predators. They voted to keep sexual harassment records buried, and they did it together. This is the establishment in action, always protecting itself, never the victims. Remember their names when they ask for your vote." — Rep. Nancy Mace

"The loudest voices screaming 'Release the Epstein Files' just voted to bury the sexual harassment files of members of Congress." — Rep. Nancy Mace, on X

The Gonzales Case: What the Ethics Committee Can and Cannot Do

The House Ethics Committee investigation into Gonzales will examine whether he engaged in sexual misconduct toward Santos-Aviles, who worked in his Uvalde district office, and whether he dispensed special favors — including a 26% salary increase Santos-Aviles received in 2024, the same year the affair is alleged to have occurred. Gonzales denied the raise was connected to the relationship.

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Under House rules added in 2018 following the #MeToo movement, members are prohibited from engaging in sexual relationships with staff they supervise. The rule did not exist when many of the cases now held in Ethics Committee files were investigated.

There is also a structural limit the vote did not address: because the Ethics Committee only has jurisdiction over sitting members, Gonzales' decision not to seek reelection means the investigation could end before a final report is produced if he leaves office before the committee completes its work. The public may never see findings in a case that became the stated reason for the transparency push in the first place.

When the mechanism designed to investigate misconduct also controls what the public ever learns about its findings — and both parties vote to keep it that way — what standard of accountability is Congress actually applying to itself?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from NBC News, Roll Call, Axios, The Hill, Newsweek, CNBC, the Texas Tribune, KSAT Investigates, Fox News, and official statements from Rep. Nancy Mace's office and the House Ethics Committee.

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