Tom Rice: South Carolina Ousts Republican Who Voted To Impeach Trump
A Republican congressman who voted to impeach former US President Donald Trump has been thrown out of office by voters in his district.
Tom Rice, a five-term South Carolina incumbent, was beaten in a primary election by Trump-backed challenger Russell Fry, a state legislator.
But another Republican in the state who had criticised Mr Trump, Nancy Mace, comfortably won her vote.
Ms Mace had later visited Trump Tower in a show of loyalty.
Congressional votes were held on Tuesday in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and Texas.
Mr Rice had been a reliable supporter of Mr Trump until the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021, when he became one of 10 Republicans who sided with Democrats days later to impeach the outgoing president for inciting insurrection.
Mr Trump was acquitted of the political charge in the Senate. A Democratic-led congressional inquiry is currently conducting public hearings into the Capitol riot, accusing the former president of plotting an attempted coup.
Mr Rice had acknowledged his impeachment vote could end his political career, but had maintained he was following his conscience. He lost on Tuesday night by more than 26 points.
Ms Mace did not vote to impeach Mr Trump, but she incurred his displeasure by condemning him for the Capitol riot and voting to certify President Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 White House election.
South Carolina Rep Tom Rice
Rices vote for impeachment stunned those familiar with the South Carolina lawmakers record as a staunch Trump defender, especially during his first impeachment.
I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice, Rice said in a statement Wednesday evening. But, this utter failure is inexcusable.
Rice voted for motions to object to certifying Bidens Electoral College victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania last week, votes that came after security teams cleared the building of rioters and members returned from a secure location. Rice told local media he waited until the last minute to cast those votes because he was extremely disappointed in the president after the riots and that Trump needed to concede the election. He also said last week that he did not support impeaching the president or invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Rice, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, has supported the Trump administrations position 94 percent of the time over the past four years. He represents a solidly Republican district in the Myrtle Beach area that Trump carried by 19 points in November. Rice, who has had little difficulty holding his seat since his first 2012 victory, won his race by 24 points in November.
Illinois Rep Adam Kinzinger
Kinzinger, first elected to Congress in 2010 when voters swept House Republicans into power, has relied on his military background in crafting his legislative priorities, especially on foreign policy. The veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan serves on the House Foreign Affairs panel, as well as Energy and Commerce. Kinzinger initially defended Trumps foreign policy and national security posture, but by 2018 he had become a critic of the commander in chief.
He voted in line with the president on legislation 90 percent of the time during the Trump years, according to CQ Vote Watch. Kinzinger voted with Trump 85 percent of the time in 2019. Trump carried Kinzingers 16th District, which stretches from Illinois Wisconsin border north of Rockford to its line with Indiana, in 2020. Trump got 57 percent of the vote in the district, according to Daily Kos Elections, while Kinzinger got 65 percent.
He immediately condemned Trump in a video statement on Jan. 6. The storming of the Capitol was a coup attempt, with the purpose of overturning the election of a duly elected president, he said. The current president incited this coup, encouraged it, and did little to protect the Capitol and the Constitution.
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Tom Rice Of South Carolina
None of the 10 Republican votes to impeach was as surprising as that of Mr. Rice, a conservative who had to that point never spoken out against Mr. Trump. It shocked his constituents in northeastern South Carolina and set off a land rush of a dozen Republicans aiming to unseat him.
Among them are a former Trump administration official and several candidates who declared that they would not have voted to certify Mr. Bidens victory.
Mr. Rices case may present one of the purest tests yet of Mr. Trumps hold on the party: There is no other issue in which he has broken with the former president or with Republican leadership. But his impeachment vote has been forgotten by no one: not his primary opponents, not the Trumpian party base, and not Mr. Trump himself.
What do you call somebody who votes with Trump 99 percent of the time? Mr. Rice joked in a June interview with The Washington Post. A traitor.
Here Are All Of The House Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Donald Trump
Ten members of the GOP joined with Democrats in the vote.
The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump — making him the only president in American history to be impeached twice.
Unlike his first impeachment in 2019, 10 Republicans joined Democrats to charge Trump for the “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol with a final vote of 232-197.
Some Republicans may have feared for their own safety if they voted for impeachment, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of those who voted against Trump, said. Kinzinger told ABC’s “Powerhouse Politics” podcast that some members of his party are likely holding back from voting for impeachment due to fear of highlighting their own participation in supporting the president’s false claims of election fraud.
Democrat Jason Crow, of Colorado, relayed similar thoughts in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday morning.
“I had a lot of conversations with my Republican colleagues last night, and a couple of them broke down in tears talking to me and saying that they are afraid for their lives if they vote for this impeachment,” he said.
Here is a list of the 10 Republicans who took a stance against Trump:
Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y.
“To allow the President of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy. For that reason, I cannot sit by without taking action. I will vote to impeach this president.”
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Ial Retraction From Starr
In January 2020, while testifying as a defense lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial, Starr himself would retract some of the allegations he made to justify Clintonâs impeachment. Slate journalist Jeremy Stahl pointed out that as he was urging the Senate not to remove Trump as president, Starr contradicted various arguments he used in 1998 to justify Clintonâs impeachment. In defending Trump, Starr also claimed he was wrong to have called for impeachment against Clinton for abuse of executive privilege and efforts to obstruct Congress, and stated that the House Judiciary Committee was right in 1998 to have rejected one of the planks for impeachment he had advocated for. He also invoked a 1999 Hofstra Law Review article by Yale law professor Akhil Amar, who argued that the Clinton impeachment proved just how impeachment and removal causes âgrave disruptionâ to a national election.
What The Fate Of The Impeachment 10 Says About The State Of The Gop
It would be an overstatement to suggest Donald Trump has maintained complete control over the Republican Partys 2022 primaries, picking winners and losers in line with his whims. Theres plenty of evidence to the contrary, with the former presidents preferred candidates suffering embarrassing defeats in Georgia, Nebraska, and Idaho.
But as members of the Impeachment 10 can attest, it would also be a mistake to downplay Trumps influence especially when the former president, fueled by a petty sense of vengeance, is determined to destroy the careers of specific members of his party. A New York Times analysis noted overnight:
Ten House Republicans voted to impeach Mr. Trump in early 2021 for his role inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol. Only two have survived the 2022 Republican primaries, a breathtaking run of losses and forced retirements in a chamber where incumbents typically prevail with ease.
With a focus on former House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, who lost in a landslide to a Trump sycophant in Wyoming yesterday, the Times added that the outcome may have only strengthened Mr. Trumps hand as he asserts his grip over the Republican Party, by revealing the futility among Republican voters of even the most vigorous prosecution of the case against him.
History, however, doesnt elect members of Congress. Voters do.
Four more thought they could maintain the trust of the voters whod elected them in the first place:
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The Fates Of The 10 House Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump
The 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol have increasingly become pariahs as their party moves in the opposite direction.
When the 10 GOP House members, along with seven of the partys senators, joined Democrats on Trumps impeachment, they said that the former president bore responsibility for inciting the mob of his supporters and was no longer fit for public office.
But a year later, those Republicans are finding themselves ostracized and even facing death threats for being out of step with a party that continues to embrace Trump.
Three of the 10 have decided not to run for reelection this year. The others are all facing Trump-allied primary challengers who accuse them of lacking fealty to the most influential figure in the GOP.
And Rep. Liz Cheney , who was serving as the third-ranking House Republican, was unceremoniously booted from her leadership post last year for repeatedly pushing back against Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Unlike in the House, only one of the seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial faces voters later this year: Sen. Lisa Murkowski . She, too, will face a Trump-backed primary challenger.
Heres a look at whats happened to the 10 House Republicans since their impeachment votes.
Cheney
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler
Rep. John Katko
Rep. Adam Kinzinger
Rep. Peter Meijer
Staying Above The Fray
As autumn approaches, the pressure on Bice from within her party appears to be lifting. Oklahoma GOP leaders have said nothing about her since party Chairman John Bennett posted a rebuke on Facebook in May following her Jan. 6 commission vote. Bennetts post is now blocked from public view, and he did not respond to a request for an interview.
Bice, who voted in January to oppose certification of the presidential result in Arizona, has repeatedly given the same explanation for her stance on both the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot, positions she reiterated in an interview with CQ Roll Call.
She said she wanted to make a statement about the integrity of state lawmakers control over how elections are administered, noting a 2020 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed voters to cast absentee ballots without getting them notarized.
Voting rights advocates said the measure would protect voters during the coronavirus pandemic, but state Republican lawmakers called the decision judicial overreach and rushed a party-line bill through the Legislature restoring the requirement.
Oklahoma could have become a statistic like other states that had their election laws changed by judicial or executive decree, Bice said. For me, that was something that was very troubling.
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Republicans Voted To Impeach Trump 7 Already Facing Challenges For Their Seats In Congress
Some of the Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in January are already having their seats challenged and their ability to hold onto their place in Congress may be dependent on the moves the former president makes in the next 18 months.
Ten Republicans joined Democrats in impeaching Trump a historic second time, a move that was quickly met with condemnation back in their home states. Theyve been publicly scolded, pushed to resign and warned that local organizations will mount a strong push to oust them from office in the primary.
After my last election, I had decided not to run again. But the vote by Congressman Valadao to impeach President Trump with no witnesses, evidence, or without allowing any defense was too much for me to stay on the sidelines, Chris Mathys, a former Fresno, California, city council member, told Newsweek.
Valadao, who represents Californias 21st district, wasnt in office during Trumps first impeachment, as he had been ousted from office in 2018 by Democrat TJ Coxx. In November, Valadao won back his seat from the Democrat who beat him in 2018 by less than a point. The Republican placed blame on Trump for the Capitol riot, saying that his rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent and absolutely an impeachable offense.
Here Are All The House Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump:
- Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyomings At-Large Congressional District.
- Rep. Jaime Herrera-Beutler of Washingtons 3rd District.
- Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohios 16th District.
- Rep. John Katko of New Yorks 24th District.
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinoiss 16th District.
- Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigans 3rd District.
- Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washingtons 4th District.
- Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolinas 7th District.
- Rep. Fred Upton of Michigans 6th District.
- Rep. David Valadao of Californias 21st District.
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Here Are The House Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump
Ten GOP House members joined Democrats in voting to impeach President Trump
It marks the first time in the countrys history that a president has been impeached twice in one term.
Its also the most bipartisan impeachment vote in the nations history.
Hugh Thompson RiceSC state Rep. Russell Fry launches primary bid against Rice over impeachment votePro-impeachment Republicans outpace GOP rivals in second-quarter fundraisingCheney, Kinzinger are sole GOP votes for Jan. 6 select committeeMORE was the most conservative of the members who supported the effort.
He said a reasonable person would see Trumps remarks to a crowd before the mob attacked the Capitol as having the potential to lead to violence.
Under the strict definition of the law, I dont know if the presidents speech last Wednesday morning amounted to incitement of a riot, but any reasonable person could see the potential for violence, he said.
Rice also took aim at the president for going after Vice President Pence.
I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable, he said in a statement.
The ten Republicans in the House who voted for Trumps impeachment were House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney
David G Valadao Of California
Mr. Valadaos district in the San Joaquin Valley is somewhat difficult to characterize politically, given his performance in it: He sailed to victories in 2012 and 2016 even though Democratic presidential candidates won the district by double-digit margins. In 2018, amid a Democratic wave election, he lost by less than 1,000 votes. He recaptured his seat last year even as Mr. Biden ran up an 11-point margin in the district.
What is clearer is that Mr. Valadaos survival in such a skittish district is seen as important to Republican efforts to recapture the House. That may explain why, despite his impeachment vote, Mr. McCarthy, now a vociferous Trump ally, has been helping Mr. Valadao raise money.
For his part, Mr. Valadao has been a reliable Republican vote in the House since his support for impeachment and has said very little about it in the intervening months, aside from voting for Mr. Katkos doomed Jan. 6 commission.
But he has expressed some solidarity with other pro-impeachment Republicans: He appeared at a fund-raiser for Mr. Newhouse and donated to eight others all except Ms. Cheney, whose political action committee donated $5,000 to Mr. Valadao.
So far, he faces only weak opposition: His leading primary challenger lost a Republican primary for Congress in New Mexico last year.
Reached by phone on Friday, Mr. Valadao showed no interest in discussing his relationship with the former president. I have a comms director, he said. Have a nice day. Goodbye.
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Report: 9 Of The 10 Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump Facing Primary Challengers
Nine out of the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump are facing primary challenges for their congressional seats.
Fox News reports that a majority of those who joined Democrats and the media circus during the second impeachment trial are facing a barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers.
Some of them, like Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger , according to Fox, may have a very hard time holding on to their seats.
The former President has vowed to back challengers to any Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment as they gear up for a fight in 2022.
Republicans who voted for impeachment face barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers
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