WASHINGTON ― Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) announced Tuesday she’s resigning from Congress rather than face a potential House expulsion vote.

Cherfilus-McCormick has been under indictment since November on accusations of stealing federal disaster funds to pay for her 2021 campaign. The House Ethics Committee earlier this month found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of violating House rules and was scheduled to announce a proposed punishment Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement, Cherfilus-McCormick complained the committee acted unfairly by not waiting for her criminal case to play out.

“I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “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.”

The congresswoman’s resignation was the third in a week ― Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) both resigned last week over accusations of making improper sexual advances (and outright assault in Swalwell’s case).

The ethics committee was widely expected to recommend Cherfilus-McCormick be expelled from the House, which the House would do through a vote on the floor. And it seemed likely enough Democrats would vote with Republicans to expel the congresswoman. The committee was still investigating Gonzales and Swalwell when they resigned.

“I think they all would be going to be faced with a potential expulsion vote, and maybe they saw the writing on the wall,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told HuffPost.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) didn’t signal any reluctance to follow the recommendation of the committee.

“We’ll have a conversation as a caucus in the aftermath of the recommendation, which we anticipate will be bipartisan from the ethics committee,” Jeffries said.

House expulsions are extremely rare, but the accusations in Cherfilus-McCormick’s case seemed to break through in a similar way as the accusations against former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was expelled on a bipartisan vote in December 2023.

In a statement, the Congressional Black Caucus praised Cherfilus-McCormick while offering no defense of her alleged conduct.

“We extend our appreciation for her service and offer our prayers for her and her family,” the statement said. “We wish them strength and peace in the days ahead.”

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