April 21, 2026
Another House lawmaker just resigned her seat just as the House Ethics committee was about to hand down her punishment for serious ethics violations.
But now that another Democrat is out after a Democrat and Republican left last week – what does this mean for the math in the House because everything is changing so fast and the margins are already so so so tight? I’m going to get into it in a second. But first.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick posted this lengthy statement to her social media page today saying in part “rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district. I hereby resign from the 119th congress effective immediately.” She goes on to say the process and the Ethics committee was not fair to her or her due process rights and she warned the rest of the lawmakers that by jumping to conclusions and setting up an expulsion vote for her they should be very careful about the precedent they’re setting.
Look – just a few weeks ago the Ethics committee found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of a bunch of Ethics violations, including accusations that she stole millions in pandemic relief funds and used it to bolster her 2021 campaign. She denies all the allegations. But her Republican and Democratic colleagues wanted her out. In fact – had she not resigned – her House colleagues were getting ready to vote to expel her. So one way or another she was going to be out.
Now before I talk about the math of all this – I just want to bring up one more important thing…there is another lawmaker who is also in the crosshairs of the Ethics committee and of his Republican and Democratic colleagues in the House. That is Representative Cory Mills a Republican from Florida he’s been accused of campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct. The Ethics committee is investigating him too…and he may be the next to go.
But until he does – to the math.
Right now there are 217 Republicans plus 1 Independent who caucuses with Republicans – so we can usually count his vote with Republicans and 213 Democrats.
There are currently four vacancies two Republican and two Democrat seats are vacant.
So if there is a hypothetical bill going to the floor for a vote – if everyone is present and voting the House Speaker will need 216 yes votes. Now — if that hypothetical bill is filled with only Republican priorities that Democrats had no input on – that means zero of them will vote yes…so that means the speaker will need to get these votes from here. That means if that Independent is voting with the Republicans – then the speaker will have just two votes to spare.
If that Independent votes with the Democrats then the speaker can only lose one vote.
Look this is still super super tight and if Representative Mills resigns or if he’s expelled, this math changes again.
Read Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation here.
