How do the numbers of republican and democratic politicians accused of sexual misconduct compare?
Executive summary
Available counts in recent reporting show accusations of sexual misconduct affect both parties roughly equally at the state level and across many compiled lists: the National Women’s Defense League’s count finds Republicans and Democrats “nearly equally accused” and 94% of accused lawmakers are men [1]; PBS reports 147 state legislators in 44 states have been accused since 2017 and cites that parity finding [1]. Long-running compilations and media lists document many high-profile cases across parties [2] [3].
1. Numbers on the books: parity in statehouse accusations
Multiple contemporary counts and advocacy tallies portray a near parity between Republicans and Democrats in public accusations at the state level. The National Women’s Defense League’s dataset — cited by PBS and described in their reporting — concludes Republicans and Democrats are “nearly equally accused,” and that 94% of those accused are men [1]. PBS’ summary of state-level tracking places the total at 147 lawmakers in 44 states since 2017, which the same reporting links to that parity assessment [1].
2. National and federal lists—many names, no neat partisan tally
Aggregations of federal political sex scandals and media roundups show numerous high-profile accusations across both parties but do not offer a single, authoritative party-by-party tabulation. Wikipedia’s long-form list of federal political sex scandals catalogs Democratic and Republican figures alike — from Brock Adams and Robert Packwood to allegations involving Republican and Democratic members of Congress — illustrating that both parties appear repeatedly across decades of incidents [2]. Newsweek’s 2017 compilation likewise lists long rosters of Republicans and Democrats facing allegations, signaling widespread incidence without producing a simple partisan head-count [3].
3. Reporting, methodology and selection effects matter
Counts differ because organizations use different definitions (sexual harassment, assault, misconduct), time windows, and inclusion rules (allegation vs. substantiation vs. conviction). PBS cites the National Women’s Defense League’s count; that advocacy group maintains a database and methodology that emphasize reported complaints in statehouses [1]. Wikipedia and news outlets compile media-reported scandals with varying thresholds for inclusion, producing lists that are comprehensive in names but inconsistent in classification [2] [3]. These methodological choices shape apparent parity or imbalance.
4. Who gets counted — and who reports — skews the picture
Scholarly work and social science reporting show reporting patterns differ by political identification, which affects observed counts. A peer-reviewed study summarized in PubMed reports conservative and Republican individuals are less likely to report certain forms of sexual harassment and assault (odds ratios <1 for conservative affiliation and reporting), meaning incidence estimates based solely on reported allegations can be biased by partisan differences in reporting behavior [4]. Available sources do not provide a direct correction for that bias in the partisan counts described above.
5. Power, consequence and partisan protection
Multiple sources note a recurrent dynamic: accused officials in both parties often retain support from co-partisans and, in many cases, do not face criminal charges even when accused. Analyses note that party loyalty influences responses to allegations and that political conditions — chamber majorities, leadership priorities, and internal rules — shape whether allegations prompt discipline or reforms [3] [5]. The PBS/advocacy reporting documents action in some state parties to address misconduct, and also examples where accused figures remained influential [1] [6].
6. What the numbers do and don’t tell us
The available reporting establishes that public accusations span both parties and that, in several major tallies, Republicans and Democrats are “nearly equally accused” in recent state-level tracking [1]. These figures do not measure unreported misconduct, differences in severity, nor the outcomes of investigations in a way that would support definitive claims about which party has “more” misconduct. Comparative claims beyond “rough parity in reported accusations” require harmonized methodology and adjustment for reporting biases not present in current public tallies [1] [4].
7. Conclusion — cautious, evidence-based takeaway
Public datasets and major media compilations point to bipartisan prevalence: accusations of sexual misconduct are widespread and involve members of both parties, and state-level tallies report near parity between Republicans and Democrats [1]. The most important caveats are methodological — what is counted, how reporting differs by ideology, and how parties respond — all of which limit simple partisan comparisons [2] [3] [4].