Rice was among the 10 Republican Party representatives who joined the Democrats on January 13 in the vote to impeach Trump for his role in the violence a week earlier on U.S. Capitol Hill. A Senate trial is expected in February.
The day after his vote, Rice – who represents the 7th District of South Carolina, an area that voted strongly for Trump – told the Associated Press that it “hurts my heart” to go against the president, but he decided to return to impeachment later to see what he characterized as Trump’s inaction during the Capitol riot.
State-level censorship is not common in South Carolina. The GOP in 2009 issued one to then Gov. Mark Sanford after fleeing the state for five days to visit a lover in Argentina. In 2009 and 2010, several county-level Republican parties censored US Senator Lindsey Graham for his willingness to work on bipartisan deals, with one county ridiculing Graham’s “condescending attitude” to grassroots party organizers.
Censorship is a symbolic expression of disapproval that some warn that it could have electoral consequences for Rice, who has represented the 7th District since its creation in 2012. There has long been a trusted supporter of Trump’s policies, Rice campaigned with the president and, According to FiveThirtyEight, he voted 94% of the time in favor of legislation supported by Trump – the highest percentage among the current South Carolina delegation.
In his only primary since the first election in 2012, Rice won 84% of the vote. He was re-elected each time with at least 56% of the votes cast. Now, Rice is almost certain to face at least a handful of primary opponents, with one formally creating an exploratory committee last week.
Rice told the AP that she knew she was likely to face a difficult primary and that the impeachment vote could cost her her seat: “If that happens, it costs,” he said.
Dreama Perdue, the Republican president of Horry, Rice County, said she received hundreds of calls from people unhappy with the congressman’s vote.
“People in the district are very, very upset that Congressman Rice will do this, knowing how much we support the president in South Carolina, and in the 7th district, and in Horry County,” Dreama Perdue told the AP. “He told me he voted for his conscience. These people did not vote for you to vote for his conscience; these people voted for you to support us, our district and the president.”
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