Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, has reportedly become the latest member of Congress to face scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee after the panel announced it has opened an investigation following a referral from the Office of Congressional Conduct.
The House Committee on Ethics disclosed Monday that it received the referral concerning Gooden on June 10 and has voted to move forward with a formal investigation.
At this stage, the committee has not revealed the nature of the allegation or allegations being examined, and no additional details regarding the referral have been made public.
The announcement places Gooden among a growing number of lawmakers who have come under review by the bipartisan ethics panel this year.
According to the committee’s statement, Gooden is now the seventh member of Congress to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee in 2026.
Gooden, 43, has represented Texas’s 5th Congressional District since first winning election in 2018. The district includes Dallas, Henderson, Kaufman, Van Zandt, Wood, and Upshur counties.
Before arriving in Congress, Gooden served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives, according to his official biography.
The House Ethics Committee did not indicate what prompted the referral from the Office of Congressional Conduct, nor did it provide any timeline of the events that led to the investigation.
As is customary when announcing a new investigation, the committee emphasized only that it had received a referral and would proceed with reviewing the matter.
The opening of an ethics investigation does not disclose or establish any findings regarding the allegations, and the committee has not released any additional information beyond confirming that the review is underway.
Gooden joins several current and former lawmakers who have recently been the subject of House Ethics Committee investigations.
Those lawmakers include Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C.; Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.; Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla.; Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas; Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla.; and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
The House Ethics Committee is responsible for reviewing allegations involving members of the House of Representatives and determining whether any violations of House rules or standards of conduct have occurred.
In Gooden’s case, however, the committee has not identified the subject of its investigation, leaving the specific allegations unknown.
The committee also announced a timetable for its next public update.
According to Monday’s statement, the panel will announce its findings in the investigation on or before Nov. 9.
Until then, the committee has not indicated whether it plans to release additional information regarding the investigation or the referral that initiated it.
For now, the only publicly available information is that the Office of Congressional Conduct referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee on June 10 and that the committee has formally opened an investigation into Gooden.
The probe marks the latest ethics investigation involving a member of Congress this year as the committee continues reviewing allegations involving lawmakers from both political parties. The committee is expected to provide an update or announce its findings by the November deadline outlined in its statement.
