A swath of House Democrats in districts President Trump won in 2016 say they are ready to vote for his impeachment, no matter the political peril.
Thirty-one Democratic lawmakers find themselves in that position after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday announced the House will pursue articles of impeachment against Trump for his “failure to faithfully execute the law,” related to the Ukraine aid affair and possibly other issues.
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Those 31 lawmakers have been top Democratic lawmakers since the 2018 elections when Democrats won their first House majority in eight years. Republicans would need to flip about 20 seats to win back a House majority, going before voters at the same time Trump is up for a second term.
Vulnerable Democrats say they’re alright moving ahead with impeachment votes.
“For me, this was never about what polls said or consultants said. It was a very basic feeling about my oath of office and the importance of protecting and defending the Constitution,” Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin told the Washington Examiner.
Slotkin, 43, a freshman member who won her seat in 2018 against Republican incumbent Mike Bishop by just over 4 percentage points, is a former CIA officer who wrote a Washington Post op-ed in September, with six other first-term Democrats, declaring their support for the impeachment investigation.
Slotkin says she has made no decision on where she stands on impeachment and still needs to finish reading the full report.
“What I told my constituents is I will do exactly what I was trained to do as a CIA officer,” she said. “Which is, I will sit with the body of information in that report, and I will make my own assessment about whether I think the implications in there require articles of impeachment and whether they actually I would vote yes on those articles.”
Virginia Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria, another freshman member and co-author of the Washington Post op-ed supporting the impeachment proceedings, said that the process is necessary, regardless of what polls may say.
“I thought for a long time that the country has unfortunately become very polarized,” Luria told the Washington Examiner. “You know, through these hearings, through these investigations and to act, I think it’s right to uphold the Constitution, uphold the oath of office that I took as a member of Congress.”
Luria, 44, was a U.S. Navy officer for 20 years, spending her military career on combat ships, reaching the rank of commander.
“I’m really not all that concerned about what polls tell me,” she said. “I’m concerned about doing the right thing.”
Not every swing-district Democrat is willing to be so candid when it comes to where they are on impeachment.
Oklahoma Democrat Rep. Kendra Horn, whose district Trump won over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton 53%-40%, is another first-term House member targeted heavily by Republicans for 2020.
“The report just came out, and as I’ve said all along, I think there’s serious things that need to be investigated, and I’ll make a decision when I have the information in front of me,” Horn told the Washington Examiner. “Honestly, I’ve got calls on both sides and people have already made up their minds, and I’m still of the mind that it is our job to take a look at all the information and assess it in a fair and balanced way.”
