Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory, even after a mob broke into the Capitol, are being denounced by critics in their home districts
Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory, even after a mob invaded the Capitol, are being denounced by critics in their home districts, who demand that they resign or be expelled.
Protesters, newspaper editorial boards and local Democrats have urged lawmakers to step down or their colleagues to expel them. The House and Senate can remove members with a two-thirds vote or censor or rebuke with a majority.
Congressman Madison Cawthorn “needs to be held responsible for his seditious behavior and the consequences of such behavior,” wrote a group of Democratic officials in a letter urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to expel the sworn North Carolina freshman. on January 3rd.
Cawthorn said he had a constitutional duty to vote against Biden. He condemned the violence in Wednesday’s attack, but compared it to last summer’s protests against police brutality.
A Capitol police officer died and a police officer shot and killed a woman in the crowd. Three other people died of medical emergencies in chaos, which forced lawmakers and staff members to hide while protesters roamed the corridors of one of America’s holiest buildings.
Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in Congress are pushing for President Donald Trump’s impeachment for encouraging insurrection and refusing to act to stop the violence. But they were silent about whether lawmakers who supported the false allegations of electoral fraud that led to the confusion should be punished.
Most of the previous evictions were from members who supported the Confederacy during the Civil War or for taking bribes.
In St. Louis on Saturday, several hundred people protested against Senator Josh Hawley, Missouri’s first Republican term that led Senate efforts to overturn Biden’s election. Protesters painted “RESIGN HAWLEY” in large yellow letters in the middle of the street.
A caravan of about 40 cars circled Senator Ron Johnson’s office in Madison, Wisconsin, urging him to resign. Johnson initially supported Trump’s unfounded allegations of electoral fraud, but after the turmoil, he voted in favor of Biden’s victory. Johnson condemned the violence, but did not give up on allegations of electoral fraud.
The editorial boards of two of Wisconsin’s biggest newspapers asked Johnson to step down, joining editorials published across the country that targeted Republican politicians.
The Houston Chronicle, long critical of Senator Ted Cruz, said in an editorial that the Republican knew exactly what he was doing and what could happen when he went up to the Senate to dispute the election results.
“These terrorists would not be on Capitol if you had not staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place,” wrote the newspaper.
Cruz called the attack an insignificant act of terrorism, but continues to press for a commission to investigate the presidential election.
In Alabama, Decatur Daily called on local deputy Mo Brooks to step down. York Dispatch, Pennsylvania, said Congressman Scott Perry is “a disgrace to Pennsylvania and our democracy”, and if he still believes Biden’s election is fraudulent, he should step down because that means his election was also false . Perry condemned the Capitol’s violence.
Virginia’s Danville Register & Bee said its representative, Bob Good, needs to go because his words hit the matches that led to the destructive mobs. Good said his vote was to protect his voters.
Trump-loyal invaders “confronted security personnel and injured and even killed,” wrote the newspaper’s editorial board. “And you are just as guilty as they are.”
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This story was edited to exclude a sentence that incorrectly stated that demonstrations of racial injustice never violated a government building during official business.