In his first city hall by phone since the impeachment vote for former President Trump, a voter told South Carolina Congressman Tom Rice that his decision was “unforgivable”.
“Next time, I don’t think you’re going to be elected,” said his voter in Myrtle Beach, in the district Rice has represented since 2013. “I’m not happy with you. And I certainly won’t be voting for you again. So if you can find out a way to redeem myself, I’m all ears. “
But the next call, an 80-year-old woman, praised Rice for the “tremendous courage” he showed in voting for impeachment.
“If you want a congressman who will bow to the bullies … who will go along with the crowd, ‘Oh, everyone on this side voted this way, so I better vote this way so people at home don’t question me – if this is the guy you want, so I’m not your guy, “said Rice.
“But if you want someone who stands up for what is right and protects our Constitution like I swore to do, then I’m your guy.”
For Rice and the other nine House Republicans who voted for impeachment, Trump’s speech before the Capitol attack and his long silence while protesters violated the building were reason enough to join Democrats in impeaching the president a second time.
But his decision was met with an immediate reaction from many constituents, local parties and their Republican colleagues.
Six of the eight Republican presidents of the Dan Newhouse district in Washington asked for his resignation (Newhouse said in a statement that he would not resign).
Three of the Republicans who voted for impeachment already face primary challenges. In Wyoming, three candidates filed a lawsuit to challenge Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the House’s third Republican. In his campaign announcement, state senator Anthony Bouchard said that Cheney’s impeachment vote shows “how she is disconnected from Wyoming”.
At the Capitol, Cheney, the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House, faces requests to step down as president of the caucus. She will face the same pressure at home when Florida congressman and Trump ally Matt Gaetz travels to Wyoming on Thursday. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, irritated by the infighting, told Republicans during a conference call on Wednesday to “stop this shit.”
Former Mayor John Boehner will do a virtual fundraiser for Cheney in February, according to an invitation obtained by CBS News.
A poll released by the Trump pollster on Wednesday revealed that a sizable majority of Wyoming Republicans have an unfavorable view of Cheney and disapprove of his impeachment vote.
But Natrona County Republican President Joseph McGinley said he saw mixed reactions to her from the second most populous county in the state, and said there was general confidence in her and a “silent majority” of Republicans supporting her.
The state Republican party was more critical of Cheney’s decision, calling his vote “a real farce for Wyoming”. “The consensus is clear that those arriving at the Party strongly disagree with Representative Cheney’s decision and actions,” said the Wyoming Republican Party in a statement.
Natrona County State Committee member Peter Nicolaysen countered the leadership of the state party in an email and cast doubt on the clarity of the “consensus”.
“Perhaps we are just listening to the loudest Republicans? Time will tell, I suppose,” he wrote.
In Michigan’s 3rd district, Tom Norton wasted no time launching a campaign in the primaries against Republican Peter Meijer after his impeachment vote. And he is hiring a former Trump campaign official in Michigan to temporarily run his campaign.
“Republicans in the district feel that their trust has been violated,” said Norton. “When you impeach someone and violate due process, that’s a big problem.” Norton ran against Meijer in the 2020 Republican primaries and finished third with 16% of the vote.
Meijer is a freshman who occupied the seat of libertarian congressman Justin Amash, who gave his own vote to oust Trump in 2019. Meijer was one of two Republican freshmen to vote for impeachment.
“It may have been an act of political suicide, but it is what I felt was necessary for the good of the country, to be responsible at this time, but also to define a way forward,” Meijer told the Detroit Free Press on your vote.
Ohio congressman Anthony Gonzalez is also quite new to Congress, entering his second term.
Gonzalez said he voted for impeachment because Trump helped “organize and incite a crowd”, and it was “the whole scope of the events that led through January 6, including the president’s lack of response”, that forced him to support the impeachment.
Doug Deeken, president of the Republican Party in Wayne County, thinks Gonzalez was “sucked” into a “rushed” impeachment trial. But he also said that potential challengers would be “stupid” to declare before redistricting.
Portage County Republican Party President Amanda Suffecool said she heard from donors who are closing funds for Gonzalez for the time being, although she noted that it is still early.
South Carolina Republican Party President Drew McKissick has failed to count how many donors have closed Rice, but he suspects this will be a problem for him.
“The base of the party, they are very upset. I think that will be expressed in 2022 ”, he said.
However, Myrtle Beach resident Rick Scott, a consistent Rice donor, said he was proud of his congressman for his decision. He will continue to support Rice and has not heard any other donor say he would abandon the ship.
“I felt like [his vote] it can cause him some pain, but he did the only thing a decent person could do, “he said.” My wife told me that Facebook is full of people who don’t support it. But there is a reason why I am not on Facebook. “
Chris Ekstrom, president of the Courageous Conservatives PAC, says he hopes to raise $ 5-10 million to go after the Republicans who supported the impeachment. Its main targets include Cheney, Gonzalez and Rice.
“I’m going to send Liz Cheney a Valentine’s Day card because she will be the biggest fundraiser to prioritize Republicans in Congress that we’ve ever had,” said Ekstrom.
In competitive districts, Republican donor Dan Eberhart said that some donors can step in to support the Republican candidate they believe has a better chance of winning in November.
The 2022 House maps have not yet been drawn, but three of the 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment represent districts that Trump won for less than five points. Two represent districts that President Biden won.
“The resumption of the Chamber is a major focus between what the donors I am talking to are talking about,” said Eberhart. “I think the donor class will eventually be upset with the main opponents who make the overall victory more complicated.”
The backlash against House Republicans who supported the impeachment showed that senators facing re-election in 2022 await them if they vote to condemn Trump. Forty-five Republican senators supported a motion by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky to declare the impending trial unconstitutional. The only Republican candidate for re-election who did not join them was Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Tuesday’s vote makes it highly unlikely that 17 Republican senators will vote to condemn the former president. South Dakota Senator John Thune, the second Senate Republican running for re-election in 2022, told reporters that the vote does not “bind anyone as soon as the trial begins”, but said it is “indicative of where many people heads are. ”
Democrats have devised a measure to censor Trump, although it is unclear whether this will have more support from Republican senators for re-election.
“The spectrum of a Trump brand Republican to challenge someone by 2022 is very high,” said Eberhart. “Watching a Trump rally for a challenger to a holder who resisted Trump is a very powerful incentive to keep people in line.”
Members of the Republican National Committee have debated how to address whether Trump played a role in the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill.
Demetra DeMonte, a woman on the Illinois RNC committee, proposed a resolution last week that called the House’s impeachment “illegal” and urged all Senate Republicans to “oppose this unconstitutional impeachment trial, motivated by a majority radical and irresponsible democrat “.
But Bill Palatucci, a member of the New Jersey RNC committee, opposed the resolution because it “did not recognize former President Trump’s direct role in encouraging insurrection.” He argued that the RNC could help the country to heal itself, condemning the role of Trump.
McDaniel released a statement on Wednesday that did not refer to the impeachment as illegal, but called the Senate trial “unconstitutional”.
“I join the vast majority of Senate Republicans in opposing this,” she added.
Rebecca Kaplan contributed reporting.