“Why did he resign? Usually such charges are a resume builder for a democrat, demonstrating his love for children and DEI” – Top comment on the Fox News article headlined “North Carolina Democrat lawmaker resigns after being hit with child sex charges,” posted Saturday.
Republican voters who like to think that way have had a rough go of it in recent years… Or not that rough at all as their media outlets tend to either ignore or grossly mischaracterize their party’s elected officials being accused of sexual misconduct, be it in the court of public opinion or of the law when the behavior goes crosses the line from abhorrent to criminally actionable.
Given this politically-motivated tendency to stamp their feet and insist that the “Democrats are worse” it’s long past time to set the record straight, once and for all, using the power of data to catalog the name, chamber, party, and offenses of EVERY single state legislator who went down in flames over sexual misconduct/harassment/assault, or a domestic incident so far this decade:
State Legislative Sexual Misconduct Scorecard (2020-2025)
| Date | State / Chamber | Legislator | Reason for Resignation/Removal |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2020 | New Hampshire House | Richard Komi (D) | Following calls for resignation over offensive comments/tweet regarding sexual assault allegations |
| Aug 27, 2020 | New Hampshire House | Robert Forsythe (R) | **Following domestic violence charges** |
| Mar 4, 2021 | North Dakota House | Luke Simons (R) | **Expulsion for multiple proven violations of the Legislature’s sexual harassment policy** |
| Mar 15, 2021 | Oregon House | Diego Hernandez (D) | Resigned ahead of likely expulsion vote due to sexual harassment and unwanted sexual contact |
| Apr 22, 2021 | Missouri House | Rick Roeber (R) | **Expulsion following Ethics Committee finding of sexual and physical abuse of his children** |
| Apr 29, 2021 | Idaho House | Aaron von Ehlinger (R) | Resigned amidst investigation/Ethics Committee vote for expulsion over alleged rape and sexual misconduct with an intern |
| Aug 10, 2021 | Arizona Senate | Tony Navarrete (D) | **Following arrest and charges for multiple counts of sexual conduct with underaged children** |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Kentucky House | Robert Goforth (R) | Resigned while facing felony charges for domestic violence (assault/strangulation) |
| Feb 22, 2022 | Nebraska Senate | Mike Groene (R) | Resigned following admission of taking sexually inappropriate photographs of a female legislative aide |
| Jun 1, 2022 | North Dakota Senate | Ray Holmberg (R) | Resigned amidst federal investigation involving child sex tourism and child pornography |
| Jun 1, 2022 | West Virginia House | Joe Jeffries (R) | Resigned after posting a sexually explicit video and facing ethics committee removal proceedings |
| Dec 22, 2022 | New Hampshire House | Stacie-Marie Laughton (D) | Resigned following arrest for stalking (later faced charges for child sexual abuse images) |
| Mar 16, 2023 | Pennsylvania House | Michael Zabel (D) | Resigned amidst multiple public sexual harassment allegations |
| May 8, 2023 | Texas House | Bryan Slaton (R) | Resigned ahead of expulsion vote for inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old aide |
| Oct 2, 2023 | Ohio House | Bob Young (R) | Resigned following multiple arrests and charges for domestic violence |
| Mar 19, 2024 | Arizona House | Jevin Hodge (D) | Resigned amidst allegations of sexual violence and sexual misconduct violations from his university days |
| Mar 21, 2025 | Minnesota Senate | Justin Eichorn (R) | Resigned following criminal charge for allegedly soliciting sex from someone he thought was a minor |
| May 5, 2025 | North Dakota House | Jeremy Olson (R) | Resigned following allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault involving a subordinate |
| Aug 11, 2025 | South Carolina House | RJ May (R) | Resigned following federal indictment on 10 counts of distributing child sexual abuse material |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oklahoma House | Ty Burns (R) | Resigned following guilty plea to misdemeanor domestic abuse and assault charges |
| Oct 31, 2025 | North Carolina House | Cecil Brockman (D) | Arrested and charged with four felony counts of statutory rape and indecent liberties with a 15-year-old child |
METHODOLOGY: Each one of the thousands of listings from a page on Ballotpedia, starting with this one ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_vacancies,_2020 through 2025 for a state legislative vacancy was pulled and then filtered to resignations or expulsions, yielding 537 early exits. From there, Google Gemini conducted, in batches of 10, a search of news articles for the specific reason for the departure. The criteria of being a (now-former) member of a state legislature is a proof of concept for what will eventually be a fuller database encompassing city and county officials.