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Punchbowl News, which first reported on Reed’s resignation, said Reed is joining Prime Policy Group, a bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm in Washington, D.C.

“I humbly bid farewell, and submit my resignation as a member of the House. And I wish you all Godspeed,” Reed said on the House floor.

Davis told the Post last year that Reed rubbed her back and thigh and unhooked her bra when the two were at an Irish bar in Minnesota. Davis at the time was a lobbyist for an insurance company.

Davis said she asked the person sitting beside her for help, which prompted him to take the congressman away from the table and bring him outside the restaurant, according to the Post.

Reed took responsibility in his statement last year.

“Even though I am only hearing of this matter as stated by Ms. Davis in the article now, I hear her voice and will not dismiss her. In reflection my personal depiction of this event is irrelevant,” Reed said.

“Simply put, my behavior caused her pain, showed her disrespect and was unprofessional. I was wrong, I am sorry, and I take full responsibility,” he added.

The congressman said the alleged incident took place “at a time in my life in which I was struggling.”

“Upon entering treatment in 2017, I recognized that I am powerless over alcohol. I am now approaching four years of that personal lifelong journey of recovery,” he added.

Reed did not mention the sexual misconduct claims in his resignation announcement on Tuesday. He did, however, say he believes “there’s much more to do,” pointing to extremism and “petty political posturing.”

“I am leaving to continue that work and hope to have a greater impact on our country. I believe the current focus on extremism demands us to heed the words of Abraham Lincoln, uttered years ago as we face a similar threat to our existence today. A house divided cannot stand, but I add, a house united will not fail,” Reed said.

“It is time for petty political posturing to end. Leadership must emerge, and in God I trust, his divine protection will extend again if only we acknowledge and accept his love, and the divine spark that exists in each of us as citizens of our great nation,” he added.

Reed was first elected to the House in 2010.

"No further comments on this announcement will be forthcoming."

Morgan-Derosier was being held on state child pornography charges at the Grand Forks County Jail in the summer of 2021.

Inmates at the Grand Forks jail are allowed to use an approved text messaging service while detained. It is through this service that Morgan-Derosier allegedly contacted Holmberg.

The Forum, quoting jail records, reported on April 15 that a phone number used by Holmberg was among those that Morgan-Derosier had texted on Aug. 23 and 24 last year when he was in jail.

Holmberg told the news outlet that his text messages with Morgan-Derosier were related to "a variety of things," including patio work Morgan-Derosier did for him. He said he no longer had the text messages.

The subject of Morgan-Derosier's texts had come up earlier at a Jan. 4 detention hearing in North Dakota's federal court, when Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl said Morgan-Derosier texted a "77-year-old man from Grand Forks" on August 23, 2021.

The 77-year-old man, who was not identified in court, told Morgan-Derosier that "he wants him to bring (Morgan-Derosier's boyfriend) over to his house to give him a massage," Puhl said in a transcript obtained by The Forum. The boyfriend was 19 or 20 years old.

"At the time of the defendant's arrest, law enforcement asked (the boyfriend) whether he was aware that the defendant was serving him up to a 77-year-old man, and (the boyfriend) said no," Puhl said, according to the transcript.

Holmberg, when asked by The Forum about the messages mentioned in court, said "I don't know what you're talking about."

GOP state Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner reflected on the incident while speaking to the Associated Press. He said that Holmberg is guilty of bad judgment but nothing else, at this stage.

"He sent 72 messages to a bad, bad person," Wardner told the AP.

"That's not illegal and until there is more information I think [his committee resignation] is a step in the right direction... If there is any evidence of any wrongdoing, we will act and we will act quickly. Right now, all we have is that it looks bad."

Holmberg was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1976 and has been the nation's longest-serving state senator.

As well as being the chairman of the state Senate Appropriations Committee and procedural Rules Committee, he also serves on the interim Budget Section.

Earlier this year in March, Holmberg announced his decision to retire as a state senator this year, according to The Forum.

He cited medical issues that deprived him of the "cognitive ability to accurately perform" his work as one of the reasons.

When Holmberg was contacted for additional comment he told Newsweek: "Under advisement of counsel I will make no further comments."