The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez for inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer after the California Democrat admitted to cheating on his wife.
Gomez, 51, copped to the affair on June 2 in a statement to CNN, confessing to “personal mistakes outside my marriage that have cause real pain to my wife and family,” and characterizing the extramarital relations as “consensual.” The admission came hours after reports said that the bipartisan panel had opened a formal probe into the Los Angeles-area congressman.
“I sincerely apologize to my wife, family, friends and the people that I have the privilege to serve,” the 51-year-old added at the time.
The Post had reported April 18 that Gomez got hot and heavy with a House staffer two decades his junior in the backyard of then-Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) DC residence in August 2023. A spokesman for Gomez told the outlet at the time that the reporting was “not true” and the alleged make-out session “didn’t happen.”
But Gomez reversed course in his CNN statement, acknowledging that “years ago” he had strayed. “Although my actions were consensual in nature and haven’t violated the law or House ethics rules, that doesn’t diminish the impact that these mistakes have made on those I care about the most,” he wrote.
The congressman continued, “I take full responsibility and have committed myself to working through the pain privately with my wife and family. I sought professional assistance to help re-center and heal the relationships that mean everything to me, and move forward with the honesty, transparency, and respect that everyone deserves from the people they love. I continue to do this work.”
Reports said that the Ethics Committee initially began looking into the Post’s April story about the Swalwell backyard incident, and during that inquiry learned of other misconduct allegations against Gomez. The panel has not publicly commented or confirmed the investigation.
Gomez’s challenger in the safely Democratic 34th District, progressive Democrat Angela Gonzales-Torres, seized on the news. “He has accepted millions from AIPAC,” Gonzales-Torres tweeted Wednesday evening after learning she’d earned a spot in the general election. “He was Eric Swalwell’s campaign chair and is now under investigation too for sexual misconduct. We’re done.”
The Republican National Committee also piled on, targeting Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) over his past ties to Gomez. “Ruben Gallego’s sick freak friends prey on women and employees,” RNC Western Regional Communications Director Nick Poche said in a statement distributed Wednesday. “You are the company you keep, so Gallego needs to answer for what he’s seen.”
In the viral moment that sparked the probe, reports said that Gomez, then 49, was spotted “surreptitiously kissing a much younger congressional aide” at a private Washington gathering hosted by Swalwell in August 2023. The aide was later identified as Eric Swalwell’s chief of staff. The backyard party came roughly two years before Swalwell himself resigned from Congress in disgrace amid multiple women’s allegations of sexual assault against him, and before former Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, also surrendered his seat after admitting to an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
Gomez has represented California’s 34th Congressional District, covering Boyle Heights, Chinatown, Downtown Los Angeles, Eagle Rock, Highland Park and Koreatown, since 2017. He previously served in the state Assembly and is married to Mary Hodge since 2011.
Gomez faces Gonzales-Torres in the November general election.