House Republicans continue to move ahead, with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) reported blessing, toward a vote that would “expunge” the two impeachments of former President Donald Trump. Could this attempt to legislatively memory-hole the Trump impeachments by the Democratic majority House, in December 2019 and January 2021, create problems for the remaining House Republicans who voted to oust the then-president from office?
No House Republicans voted for impeachment the first time around, on articles against Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, over arms sales to Ukraine (or lack thereof). The then-Republican majority Senate acquitted Trump 52-48 on the first count and 53-47 on the second — with only Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) voting for the abuse of power charge. Neither was within striking distance of the 67 Senate votes needed to remove Trump from the presidency.
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The second Trump impeachment brought a somewhat different outcome. With days left in Trump’s term, 10 House Republicans voted to impeach him over the Jan. 6 riots aimed at overturning his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. Across the Capitol in the Senate, now in Democratic hands, the vote to remove, over “incitement to insurrection,” was 57-43 — closer to the two-thirds mark but still well short.
Today, only two pro-impeachment House Republicans remain in office. The rest were picked off by Trump-backed primary challengers, retired, or lost their reelection bids.
The two Republican yay votes on impeachment who remain in Congress are Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and David Valadao (R-CA). Newhouse is from Washington state’s 4th Congressional District, in the non-Spokane parts of eastern Washington, running from the U.S. border with Canada south to the Oregon state line. Valadao represents California’s fat drumstick-shaped 22nd Congressional District in the lower San Joaquin Valley of central California.
Politico reported on July 20 that McCarthy has promised Trump the House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president, perhaps before the August congressional recess. McCarthy has publicly been coy about the vote, but such a move would have broad, though not overwhelming, appeal among members of the House Republican Conference.
Could a vote on expungement make either Newhouse or Valadao politically vulnerable and imperil an already razor-thin Republican House majority?
Both members have already beat primary challenges in 2022 and so might be able to pull off that trick again, if necessary.
Newhouse garnered 25.5% of the vote in a primary with five challengers (including his eventual Democratic general election opponent Doug White) registering votes in the double digits. He then went on to win the general election handily with 66.5% of the vote in the solidly Republican district.
Valadao put up 25.6% of the vote in a primary with two challengers (including eventual Democratic general election opponent Rudy Salas). Valadao went on to win the general election with 51.5% of the vote in the swing district, where in 2020 Biden beat Trump 55.3%-42.3%.
Because Washington’s 4th Congressional District is so solidly GOP, some local Republicans might think they can primary Newhouse and still keep the seat. Given the makeup of the district, that would likely prove true.
The problem lies in something that happened in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in southwestern Washington, which abuts Newhouse’s district. At the same time as Newhouse was victorious in fending off Republican challengers, Trump-backed candidate Joe Kent successfully primaried Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler — one of the 10 pro-impeachment House Republicans. Kent then went on to lose the general election and refused to concede defeat until six weeks later.
That loss may have just enough residual sting to make primary voters in Newhouse’s district think twice.
As for California’s 22nd District, former California Republican Party Executive Director Jon Fleischman told the Washington Examiner that Valadao is likely a lock in both the primary and the general election. Salas, a Democratic assemblyman, is running again.
In Valadao’s district, “Everybody knows David,” said Fleischman, an eminence grise of California Republican politics. He’s noticed that people often spontaneously greet Valadao when he visits cities and towns in the area.
“Those hellos aren’t partisan,” Fleischman argued. “They’re all over the map.”
He believes Republicans would be foolish to try to primary Valadao again because “there’s nobody else who can win that district.”
Fleischman explained, “A substantial percentage of the Democrat votes keep him in office.”
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He isn’t sweating the effects of an expungement vote on Valadao’s reelection chances, either.
“[Valadao is] not going to vote to expunge anything,” Fleischman said. “It helps bolster his credentials in a general election.”
