After Rep. David Valadao voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, livid grassroots Republicans in his California district cried foul. But the congressman just might have bolstered his reelection chances in a majority Democratic seat that backed President Biden in November.
Valadao, who won election last fall after having lost reelection two years earlier, took Republicans in the 21st Congressional District by surprise with his support for impeachment, with some party activists expressing buyer’s remorse. On the Facebook page for the Kings County Republican Party, one called him a coward. Another posted: “It is my opinion he was a coward just trying to get on Biden’s good side.”
But a Democratic strategist in California who would be more than happy to see support for Valadao dry up believes the Republican incumbent might have succeeded in boosting his political position for 2022. “I do think it helps him,” this operative said. Valadao said political calculations did not influence his decision to impeach Trump.
“I’ve always done what I thought what right and not what was politically convenient. That is what my constituents sent me here to do,” Valadao said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “On a vote this serious, political ramifications should not be a factor in decision-making. I was focused on doing what I believed was the right thing to do, and I will always stand by that.”
House Democrats voted unanimously to impeach Trump for encouraging grassroots supporters to march on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 as part of an effort to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s Electoral College victory. The protest evolved into a deadly siege of the building, forcing members of the House and Senate and then-Vice President Mike Pence to flee for safety. Just 10 Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the single article of impeachment. Valadao was one of them.
All have faced blowback at home. Grassroots conservatives have threatened to back primary challengers in 2022, with some such candidates already emerging. What sets Valadao apart from most is that he represents a district that was drawn to elect Democrats. The district supported Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016 and Biden over the now-former president in 2020 by an 11-point margin. Voting to impeach the 45th president might have prevented career-ending backlash from the Left.
Of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on Jan. 13 after opposing his first impeachment roughly one year earlier, Rep. John Katko of New York is the only other congressman among the 10 to represent a House district inclined toward Democrats. In 2016, the Syracuse-area 24th District backed Clinton over Trump, 48.9% to 45.3%. Presidential results for the seat from last year’s contest are not yet available.
In a Jan. 19 op-ed in the Hill, Katko bragged that he was the first House Republican to go public with his support for impeaching Trump. Explaining why, Katko wrote: “What would [my fellow Republicans] have done if President Obama held a rally on the National Mall that resulted in a brutal attack on the U.S. Capitol and in the death of 5 Americans? Would you have asked that we simply move on in the spirit of healing?”
The political question for Katko is whether kudos from Democratic and independent constituents pleased with his impeachment vote add up to be enough to counter a potential drop in support among Republican voters.
The Republican activists in Katko’s district are angry. Despite Katko’s success in keeping the seat red, including in 2018, a Democratic wave year, many are actively mulling retribution that could include backing a primary challenger next year. Denying Katko a renomination would put the seat at risk to a Democratic takeover. But it would send a message that turning on Trump is intolerable under any circumstance.
“I condemn what happened at our Capital on January 6th and expect those involved to be prosecuted. My disappointment in our congressman goes far beyond anything I could imagine and his explanation of why he voted to impeach our president is even worse,” Roberta Massarini, Cayuga County GOP chairwoman, said in an email. “I feel the Congressman has lost our respect and our vote.”
Massarini said the county party’s executive committee has since voted to bring the matter before the full committee. The Cayuga County Republican Party is exploring what options it has for expressing its discontent with Katko’s impeachment vote, suggesting action against the congressman is possible. Katko could not be reached for comment.
