--- title: Rep. Meehan Resigns After Sexual Harassment Settlement description: Rep. Meehan announced his resignation Friday from the House of Representatives, effective immediately. canonical: https://time.com/5258424/congressman-pat-meehan-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-settlement/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-27T22:40:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:07:00.844Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congressman Meehan Resigns Effective Immediately After Sexual Harassment Settlement og:description: He had already announced he would not seek reelection og:url: https://time.com/5258424/congressman-pat-meehan-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-settlement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0d8b78df06b62d5/6988f943fb4eac486a89568a/patrick-meehan-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Patrick Meehan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congressman Meehan Resigns Effective Immediately After Sexual Harassment Settlement twitter:description: He had already announced he would not seek reelection twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0d8b78df06b62d5/6988f943fb4eac486a89568a/patrick-meehan-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressman Pat Meehan Resigns Effective Immediately After Sexual Harassment Settlement > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 27, 2018 10:40 PM UTC  Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 20, 2013 Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 20, 2013 Jacquelyn Martin—AP  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 27, 2018 10:40 PM UTC Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who came under scrutiny after it was revealed he used taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment case, announced his resignation Friday from the House of Representatives, effective immediately. “Though I wish my time in Congress would have finished in a more satisfying manner, I am proud of our accomplishments and thank the residents of my District for their confidence in me over the last eight years,” he [said in a statement](https://meehan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-meehan-announces-resignation). “I recognize that there are constituents who are disappointed in the manner in which I handled the situation that lead to my decision not to seek re-election and wish I had done better by them.” The New York _Times_ [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/us/politics/patrick-meehan-sexual-harassment.html) in January that the congressman used thousands of taxpayer dollars to settle a claim of sexual misconduct. Meehan’s accuser, a former aide, alleged that he had professed romantic feelings for her, the _Times_ reported, and he grew hostile when she did not respond in kind. Following that report, Meehan, who is currently serving his fourth term in Congress for Pennsylvania’s 7th district had announced he would not seek reelection. “With the knowledge I would not be standing for another term, I have decided that stepping down now is in the interest of the constituents I have been honored to serve,” he said Friday. At the time of the _Times_ report, Meehan was on the House ethics committee, investigating other allegations of sexual misconduct in the chamber. House Speaker Paul Ryan promptly removed him from his position. Meehan said Friday that he would give $39,000 to the U.S. treasury as reimbursement to tax payers for the severance payment, a payment he said would be made within a month his resignation.”I did not want to leave with any question of violating the trust of taxpayers,” he said. Under Pennsylvania law, Governor Tom Wolfe will announce the date for a special election within ten days after Meehan’s resignation. In February, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court reworked the Congressional map following a gerrymandering lawsuit which experts say favor Democrats, rendering it unlikely that Meehan’s seat will remain in Republican hands. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5258424/congressman-pat-meehan-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-settlement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5258424/congressman-pat-meehan-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-settlement/"},"headline":"Congressman Pat Meehan Resigns Effective Immediately After Sexual Harassment Settlement","datePublished":"2018-04-27T22:40:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:07:00.844Z","description":"He had already announced he would not seek reelection","url":"https://time.com/5258424/congressman-pat-meehan-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-settlement/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0d8b78df06b62d5/6988f943fb4eac486a89568a/patrick-meehan-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0d8b78df06b62d5/6988f943fb4eac486a89568a/patrick-meehan-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Patrick Meehan","caption":"Patrick Meehan","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5258424/congressman-pat-meehan-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-settlement/","name":"Congressman Pat Meehan Resigns Effective Immediately After Sexual Harassment Settlement"}}]}] ```