Edwards faces pressure to depart congressional campaign following ethics probe

One of Congressman Chuck Edwards’ fellow North Carolina Republicans thinks the outcome of a U.S. House ethics investigation will make it hard for him to win reelection  in November.

The U.S. House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it’s recommending that Edwards, a Republican representing North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, be censured for inappropriate conduct toward two young women who worked in his office.

Multiple media outlets reported Tuesday that Sen. Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, told Edwards the race was unwinnable.

A spokesman for Budd told NC Newsline that while the Senator does not disclose his private conversations, he “finds the House Ethics report deeply concerning.”

“He believes Rep. Edwards faces a significant uphill battle in his reelection bid, given that he was already trailing in the polls and being outraised 9 to 1 even before this report’s publication,” said the spokesman in a statement to NC Newsline.

A spokesman for Edwards declined to comment on Budd’s comments to NC Newsline Tuesday night.

Ethics investigators found Edwards demonstrated a pattern of “inappropriate actions” toward the two young staffers, though it found no evidence he had inappropriately touched them or made explicitly sexual comments to them.

Both women received numerous gifts from the 65-year-old Edwards, including jewelry totaling over $1,000, “designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuums, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners,” according to the Ethics Committee’s report.

According to the report, the two female staffers were “uncomfortable with his behavior, but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress.”

In May, Edwards said his office welcomed the investigation and called the allegations “baseless.”

In his response to the report, the congressman called censure “an extraordinarily harsh and infrequent punishment,” and insisted the investigation had not proven he broke any actual rules.

On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Stein said he had not read the full report but found the findings unsettling.

“To be clear, for Congress to take some action on a bipartisan basis indicates that what they know is very troubling,” said Stein.

NC Congressman Chuck Edwards to face censure in US House for inappropriate conduct

Edwards, who is running for his third term, faces a formidable opponent in Democrat Jamie Ager. Ager’s grandfather represented the 11th Congressional District from 1983 to 1985 and 1987 to 1991, following a stint in the state legislature. His brother Eric Ager serves in the N.C. House.

Even before the ethics probe, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it would financially support Ager, as it viewed the seat in western North Carolina as one that could flip from Republican to Democratic with more resources and fundraising support.

At the end of July, election forecaster Sabato’s Crystal Ball updated its assessment of the 11th congressional district from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up.”