How many elected republicans where arrested for sex crimes in 2025?
Executive summary
At least two elected Republican officials were arrested or formally charged with sex-related crimes in 2025 according to the reporting available: North Dakota State Sen. Ray Holmberg (whose case resulted in a federal sentence in March 2025) and South Carolina state Rep. R.J. May (arrested and federally indicted in June 2025) [1] [2] [3]. Available trackers and aggregations document a wider pattern of sexual-misconduct allegations in politics but do not provide a comprehensive, single tally of 2025 arrests by party, so the count below notes confirmed cases from the provided reporting and the limits of those sources [4] [5] [6].
1. Two confirmed Republican elected officials tied to criminal sex-offense prosecutions in 2025
Reporting in mid‑2025 confirms that state Rep. R.J. May, a Lexington County Republican and Freedom Caucus cofounder in the South Carolina House, was arrested at his home and federally indicted on charges of distributing child sexual-abuse material in June 2025 [2] [3], and that Ray Holmberg, a long‑serving North Dakota Republican state senator, was prosecuted and sentenced in March 2025 for child‑sex‑tourism offenses—an outcome that follows his criminal case and federal sentence [1]. Both items are presented in local and national coverage as arrests/indictments that involved elected Republican officeholders during calendar year 2025 [2] [1].
2. What counts as “arrested for sex crimes” and why totals vary
Counts hinge on definitions and on which sources are being tallied: some databases and reporting aggregate allegations, complaints, ethics probes, indictments, arrests, convictions, or later sentences separately; others confine entries to substantiated criminal charges [4] [5]. The Ballotpedia and GovTrack misconduct pages compile “noteworthy” cases and investigations across 2025–26 but separate sexual-harassment/assault listings and do not publish a single-party arrest total for 2025 alone; likewise, national reporting like the AP/PBS project catalogs accusations since 2017 rather than arrests in a single year [4] [5] [6]. That variance means any headline figure can under‑ or overstate the reality unless methodology is spelled out.
3. Broader context: systemic reporting and partisan reactions
Statehouse-focused reporting in 2025 framed these arrests within a larger sexual‑misconduct problem among lawmakers, noting both institutional responses (ethics reforms, internal rules) and partisan posturing in the wake of allegations [7]. In the R.J. May case, party officials and officials from both parties publicly reacted; in the Holmberg matter, Democratic operatives emphasized accountability—these reactions illustrate how prosecutions of elected officials quickly take a partisan political life beyond their legal facts [3] [1].
4. Limits of the public record and potential missing cases
The sources provided do not claim to be exhaustive: Ballotpedia’s list is selective and separates sexual‑harassment/assault cases, GovTrack records are partial and sometimes focus on ethics committee actions, and national projects often document allegations over years rather than arrests in a calendar year [4] [5] [6]. Consequently, while at least two elected Republicans are documented by these outlets as arrested/indicted on sex‑crime charges in 2025, additional arrests could exist in local reporting, DOJ filings, or police records not included in the dataset provided here—those gaps mean the confirmed minimum from these sources is two [2] [1].
5. Reading the numbers: prosecution, politics, and public interpretation
When lists of “lawmakers accused” or “noteworthy misconduct” circulate they are sometimes wielded for political effect, and different actors (parties, advocacy groups, media outlets) emphasize either systemic problems or individual anomalies depending on audience and agenda [7] [6]. Independent databases are useful but must be read with an eye toward methodology; the conservative‑ or liberal‑leaning framing within some outlets and party statements around individual cases also colors public understanding of how many elected officials were actually arrested for sex crimes in 2025 [7] [3].