South Carolina Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham, still undecided on how he plans to vote on articles of impeachment against President Trump, said he would have been open to supporting censure if more Republicans had.
“I think a few weeks back that that would have been a more timely option. It seems now that this ship has sailed,” Cunningham said when asked by the Washington Examiner if he would have supported censuring the president if a certain number of Republicans did as well.
“That’s something has troubled me this whole time,” said Cunningham, 37, who in 2018 became the first Democrat in 40 years to win the coastal South Carolina district he represents. “We have not seen a Republican stand up and say that what the president did was wrong and then talk about the penalty afterwards or what should be done about it.”
House Democrats are poised to approve two impeachment articles for abuse of office and obstruction of Congress related to Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 presidential candidate.
“I think the idea of censure would have been to bring Democrats and Republicans together,” Cunningham said. “I think something bipartisan would have sent a strong message, but, like I said, there’s seems to be no appetite by my colleagues across the aisle.”
In 2016, Trump defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in Cunningham’s district 54%-40%.
Ten Democrats in similar circumstances met Monday and discussed the possibility of pushing for a censure instead of impeachment but decided against it.
