House Dems Defeated an Impeachment Resolution 137 to 95. What Changed Since 2017?
On December 6, 2017, the House voted to table an attempt by Rep. Al Green (TX-09) to introduce articles of impeachment for Donald Trump by a vote of 364 to 58, with 4 abstentions.
Last week, a similar effort was tabled 322 to 95, with 1 abstention.
Although the failure of Al Green’s effort to introduce articles of impeachment is the latest sign that Democrats are failing to treat Trump’s abuses of the office as seriously as they should, the fact that the number of Democrats siding with him increased by just over three dozen is a positive sign. (NB: Opposition to tabling Green’s resolution does not, in and of itself, equate to support for impeachment. It is more accurate to frame it as support for allowing the discussion to continue.)
That made me wonder: what accounts for the growth?
To start, 47 Democrats sided with Green in both 2017 and 2019:
48 out of the 95 were new votes to side with Green:
Joe Kennedy (MA-04), Donald Payne (NJ-09), and Mark Pocan (WI-02) were absent for the 2017 vote. Luis Gutierrez (formerly IL-04) was absent that day as well, and Chuy Garcia, his successor, voted with Green.
Of the new votes, several — Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-04), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Joe Neguse (CO-01), and Ilhan Omar — replaced former representatives who had voted against tabling the resolution: Bob Brady, Mike Capuano, Keith Ellison, and Jared Polis, respectively. Tim Walz (MN-01), who had been a supporter, was unfortunately replaced by a Republican.
Jim Clyburn (SC-06), Lois Frankel (FL-21), Alcee Hastings (FL-20), John Lewis (GA-5), and Bobby Rush (IL-01) all voted against tabling Green’s resolution in 2017 but joined House Democratic Leadership to kill it this week.
The late Louise Slaughter (NY-25) had sided with Green’s effort, but her successor — Joe Morelle — voted with Leadership.
Joaquin Castro (TX-20) voted “present” in 2017 but voted with Green this week. Notably, the other two “present” voters still in the House voted with Leadership: Terri Sewell (AL-07) and Marc Veasey (TX-33).
Several of the first-year representatives who sided with Green replaced Democrats (or even Republicans) who voted to table the similar resolution two years ago. Madeleine Dean’s district most closely aligns with Brendan Boyle’s previous district (although even that is a stretch given the redraw of the PA map); Boyle voted to table the resolution two years ago, but now sided with Green.
Veronica Escobar (TX-16) replaced Beto O’Rourke, Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) replaced Gene Green, Andy Levin (MI-09) replaced Sandy Levin, AOC (NY-14) replaced Joe Crowley, and Lori Trahan (MA-03) replaced Niki Tsongas. John Conyers had resigned shortly before this vote in 2017; Rashida Tlaib now represents MI-13. Mike Levin (CA-49) and Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02) both flipped districts: those of Darrell Issa and Martha McSally, respectively. The two were the only Democrats from swing districts to vote against tabling the resolution.
