A vote to expel Republican politician George Santos from the US House of Representatives failed when fewer than two-thirds of the chamber supported the resolution, preserving the party's narrow 221-212 majority.
The 35-year-old New Yorker has pleaded not guilty to charges including laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses, illegally receiving unemployment benefits and charging donors' credit cards without their consent.
The former treasurer for Mr Santos' campaign pleaded guilty on 5 October to a conspiracy charge for inflating fundraising numbers.
"I must warn my colleagues that voting for expulsion at this point would circumvent the judicial system's right to due process that I'm entitled to and de sanctify the long-held premise that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty," he said ahead of the vote.
Expulsion of a member requires a vote by two-thirds of the chamber.
Only five people have been expelled from the House of Representatives in the country's history, three for fighting against the US government in the Civil War.
Mr Santos represents a small area of New York City and parts of its eastern suburbs. Non-partisan election forecasters said Democrats could have recaptured the seat.
Republican politicians from Mr Santos' state of New York said last month they would introduce a resolution to expel him, but the move was delayed by weeks when the house was leaderless following the ousting of speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Republicans on 25 October elected Mike Johnson, who said he did not support expelling Mr Santos for being charged with a crime, to succeed Mr McCarthy.
Mr Santos has been involved in controversy since shortly after being elected last year, when he was accused of fabricating much of his biography on the campaign trail.
"Mr Santos is a stain on this institution and not fit to serve his constituents in the House of Representatives," Anthony D'Esposito, one of the Republican politicians behind the resolution, said in the chamber.
A trial for Mr Santos is scheduled for 9 September 2024, shortly before the elections that will determine control of the White House and both congressional chambers.
The House Ethics Committee has also said it is looking into allegations involving Mr Santos.
The investigative subcommittee contacted 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents and authorised 37 subpoenas, the committee said.
The ethics panel said it would announce its next steps by 17 November.
Separately, the house, in a bipartisan 222-186 vote, defeated a resolution to censure US Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib after she spoke at a rally that called for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced the resolution on 26 October, accusing Ms Tlaib of "antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations, and leading an insurrection at the US Capitol Complex".
Ms Greene's resolution referred to a peaceful demonstration in a house office building, during which hundreds of protesters were arrested. Ms Tlaib did not participate in that action.
Ms Tlaib in a statement described the resolution as "deeply Islamophobic".
Ms Greene drew bipartisan condemnation in 2021 after she compared masks to fight the spread of Covid-19 with the badges that Nazi Germany forced Jewish people to wear during the Holocaust.
