U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilas-McCormick, left, appears in Miami federal court Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, but entered no plea to charges of stealing $5 million in federal disaster relief funds.
Pedro Portal | Tribune News Service | getty images
Representative Sheila Cherfilas-McCormick resigned from the House of Representatives on Tuesday, effective immediately, less than an hour before its Ethics Committee was to discuss what sanctions to impose on the Florida Democrat for violating more than two dozen House rules and ethics standards.
Cherfilas-McCormick, 47, is the third House member to resign since April 13.
On April 13, Representative Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Representative Tony Gonzalez, a Texas Republican, said they would resign due to separate allegations of sexual misconduct.
Cherifillus-McCormick faces a pending criminal case in U.S. District Court in Miami on charges of stealing $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds allocated for her family’s health care business, a portion of which was allegedly contributed to her 2022 congressional campaign.
The Ethics Committee’s own case against him relates to his use of campaign funds. After the Ethics Committee issued the sanctions, the congresswoman faced the prospect of a House vote on whether to expel her.
Before resigning, Cherifilas-McCormick was seeking re-election to a fourth term representing Florida’s 20th congressional district.
In her resignation statement posted on Instagram, Cherfilas-McCormick, who denies any wrongdoing, said the Ethics Committee’s process in dealing with the allegations against her was unfair.
“By moving forward with this process while a criminal charge is pending, the committee prevented me from defending myself,” Cherfilas-McCormick said. “I will not stand by and pretend this is anything other than a witch hunt.”
“I cannot simply stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled and my good name tarnished.”
In a statement, the legal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics called Cherifilus-McCormick’s resignation “beyond overdue,” saying Crews had called on her to leave the House two months earlier.
“Representative Cherfilas-McCormick did the right thing by stepping down, but she should not have waited until possible removal to do so,” Crews President Donald Sherman said in a statement.
Sherman said, “The wrongdoing alleged in the federal indictment and confirmed in the committee’s investigation shows that he should not have authority over the appropriation of taxpayer funds.”
“Instead of quickly resigning, he spent months dragging out this scam while taking pay checks from American taxpayers. After repeatedly doing the wrong thing, you don’t get credit for doing the right thing only when forced to.”