A handful of House Democrats broke party ranks, defying the overwhelming majority of their caucus by not voting in favor of impeaching President Trump.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said, she did not lobby or “whip” votes before the chamber Wednesday night backed two articles of impeachment, too many defections would have been a bad political look for Democratic lawmakers.
Here are the four House Democrats who didn’t go along with their party leadership’s impeachment push, in whole or in part.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey
Van Drew voted against both articles, covering abuse of power and obstructing Congress. A freshman lawmaker whose southern New Jersey swing district leans Republican, Van Drew had foreshadowed his dissension for weeks, calling out his colleagues for “fracturing the nation” with its investigation.
Van Drew, 66, lost several senior aides over the weekend in response to speculation he was going to switch parties and become a Republican. But on Wednesday night, Van Drew, a dentist and former state senator, told reporters he was still a Democrat.
Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota
Peterson, who had long resisted Democratic efforts to oust Trump, voted against both measures. The president won the veteran politician’s western Minnesota district by more than 30 percentage points in 2016. Peterson, 75, who first elected to Congress in 1990, was defiant after the historic proceedings, insisting he would not “be whipped in line.”
“I am not a lawyer and I’m not sure what ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ are, but I do know that this process has not convinced the people in my district we have impeachable offenses and that the president needs to be removed,” Peterson said in a statement. “This process has been a mistake and I will not be whipped in line by my party. I may stand alone, but I stand in good conscience. History will show this to be a mistake and the Senate will make short work of an acquittal.”
Rep. Jared Golden of Maine
The pair were joined by Golden, 37, in voting against the second article, which condemned Trump for “directing defiance of certain subpoenas.” The freshman congressman and Marine Corps veteran, whose sprawling swing district supported Trump in 2016 by 10 percentage points, had said those actions not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“I see it as my duty to vote in support of Article I in order to send a clear message to the president, to the country, and to the world that foreign interference in American elections is not acceptable, not welcomed, and will not be tolerated. In the end, I believe the failure of Congress to act in a bipartisan fashion to send this message may represent the greatest threat of all to the health of our democracy,” he explained in a Facebook post.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
While Gabbard, 38, didn’t vote against impeaching Trump, she didn’t vote in favor of it either. The Hawaii Democrat, who is giving up the House seat she is at risk of losing the next cycle so she can focus on her improbable 2020 presidential campaign, voted “present” for both articles. The Hawaii Army National Guard major, who had warned of the divisiveness of the process, instead continued to push for Trump to be censured, perceived to be a milder punishment than the president’s forcible removal.
“I am confident that the American people will decide to deliver a resounding rebuke of President Trump’s innumerable improprieties and abuses. And they will express that judgment at the ballot box. That is the way real and lasting change has always occurred in this great country: through the forcefully expressed will of the people,” she wrote in a statement.
