WASHINGTON — As the 116th Congress begins, one newly-elected Central Florida congressman is facing questions about how he financed his recent congressional campaign from the Federal Elections Commission. The new inquiry comes after Rep. Ross Spano, R-15th District, acknowledged he potentially made illegal loans to his campaign.

"He starts as a damaged member of Congress," said Kyle Kondik, a political expert with the University of Virginia Center for Politics. 

The FEC flagged $75,000 in contributions from the Club for Growth, a conservative special-interest group. Spano's campaign failed to itemize those contributions. The new developments come after his attorney sent a letter to the FEC voluntarily disclosing that he funneled personal loans into his campaign, wrongly characterizing the contributions as his own money.​ 

“The allegations against him are pretty serious and significant I think. Sometimes these campaign finance violations, the investigations of them can drag on for a very long time," Kondik explained. 

Spano’s office says the loans have since been repaid in full from the sale of a law practice. While the congressman did not want to discuss the campaign finance violations in an interview with Spectrum News on Thursday, he reaffirmed his commitment to his constituents.

“I want to tell the people of District 15 how very much I appreciate them giving me the honor of representing them. I can assure you I do not take it for granted," Spano said. 

Now, there are bipartisan calls for the House Ethics and Elections committee to investigate the situation now that Spano has been seated. Experts believe that could have political implications down the road for the freshman member of Congress.

"Democrats in Congress who now are running things around here, at least in the House, they are not going to have any incentive to cut Spano some slack on this, because I think they probably look at that seat he is in and say, 'hey this is a seat we could potentially win in the future,'" Kondik said.

So, what’s next for Spano? The violation could draw a fine from the FEC, it could also advance to the Dept. of Justice as a criminal investigation. While the future is unclear, the situation is one experts say is far from ideal.

“Certainly his tenure in Congress is off to a rocky start and this could hang over him for a while," Kondik said.