As RedState previously reported, GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards (NC-11) announced in early August that he was dropping his reelection campaign after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured following a review of "allegations that [he] may have created or fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct." 

They concluded that Edwards "engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers" but "found no evidence that Representative Edwards engaged in sexual activity with or explicitly propositioned any individual under his employ."

If Edwards thought bowing out of his fight for another term was going to keep his colleagues from censuring him, though, he was sorely mistaken. Late Tuesday afternoon, the House did just that, censuring him in a near-unanimous vote among those in attendance. The only two who voted against it were Edwards himself and Rep. Ralph Norman (SC-05), who recently lost to Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) in the special primary runoff for the Republican nomination:

Edwards gave a speech on the House floor defending himself and also posted a statement on X following the vote:

I respect the House vote. I do not accept the conclusion that it produced. 

The Committee found no sexual activity, no proposition, no quid pro quo, and no violation of federal sexual-harassment law. It then crossed the gap between those facts and a finding of sexual harassment through inference. I believe that conclusion was wrong yesterday, I believe it is wrong today, and a vote does not make it right. 

And I think there is something deeply troubling about where this leaves us as a society. When helping someone with the difficult task of putting up a Christmas tree, giving a mixer to someone who wants to bake for the office, replacing a broken laptop so someone can better help a campaign, trying to comfort someone through a difficult time, or simply telling another person that you admire them can be assembled after the fact into a case for sexual harassment, we should ask ourselves what we are doing to ordinary human kindness and friendship. 

Sexual harassment is serious. It should be treated seriously. But that seriousness is precisely why we should not redefine ordinary acts of friendship, generosity, encouragement, or compassion as something they were not. 

I have apologized for where my judgment fell short. But I will not confess to conduct I did not commit simply to make this moment easier. 

The House has spoken. So have I. I will leave this chapter with my head held high and finish the job Western North Carolina sent me here to do.

As we also reported, soon after Edwards announced he was no longer running for reelection, Republican Executive Committee officials in NC-11 moved quickly to find a replacement nominee.  Out of five contenders, Republican state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom (R-Henderson) was chosen.

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Balkcom will face Democrat nominee Jamie Ager in November.