Before leaving Capitol, his phone rang, according to Rice. On the other line was House Republican Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who did not think he really intended to accuse the then president.
“I said, ‘I hit the right button,'” Rice said.
But Trump’s supporters at home don’t think he did that. Rice may now be one of the few members of Congress to face a political price for this vote. In the weeks that followed, several Republicans launched campaigns or threatened to run against the five-term congressman, knowing that 59% of the Myrtle Beach district supported the former president instead of Joe Biden.
“There’s a firestorm,” said Katon Dawson, a former South Carolina Republican Party president and Rice’s ally. “South Carolina is important to Donald Trump.”
But Rice has no regrets. He spent the days before the vote “taking everything I could find” about what Trump did and whether that would fit the alleged charge of “inciting insurrection”.
“There were very strong votes that I could go to anyway, and sometimes I wonder,” Rice said. “This is not one of those votes.”
GOP challengers emerge
Before the Capitol riot on January 6, Trump repeatedly told his supporters to “stop stealing!” In a speech that day, he urged his supporters “to make their voices peaceful and patriotic”, but also to “fight like crazy”, “never give up” and “never give in”.
Rice noted that Trump tweeted that then Vice President Mike Pence did not have the “courage” to oversee the election’s certification, which was his constitutional obligation, during the riot. The crowd searched for Pence and Mayor Nancy Pelosi and searched the senators’ tables on the floor of the chamber.
Rice said it was clear that Trump committed the crime, agreeing with many of the points that House managers raised during the impeachment trial last week.
“If this is not a serious crime or misdemeanor, I don’t know what it is,” Rice said of Trump’s actions that day. “I don’t know what the president could have done worse, unless he went down there himself and started shooting at us or something.”
Ken Richardson, chairman of the Horry County Board of Education, has already announced his campaign. Richardson told CNN that he planned to run against the deputy in 2024, after he completed another term in his office, but postponed the deadline after the impeachment vote.
“Sometimes, when the stars align, you have to take advantage of that,” said Richardson.
Republican state deputy Heather Ammons Crawford said voters in the Rice district are “very upset” about their vote. When asked if Trump played a role in the deadly turmoil, she said, “It doesn’t really matter what I think. It matters what voters think.”
Rice acknowledged that her decision worried Republicans in her district, claiming that her office received about 5,000 calls from her voters against impeachment and 4,000 in favor, but said her opponents would have “difficulty” gaining strength if the basis for running was justified. the attack on the Capitol.
Rice said she would campaign in 2022 on her record, working on issues such as beach renovation, hurricane relief and port infrastructure for her tourism-dependent district on the northeastern plains of Palmetto state.
He said he supports the Biden government in spending billions more to increase vaccine production and distribution, and would consider it “a little more stimulus” for Americans. But he said he opposes the Democrats’ general Covid-19 relief proposal.
“There are a lot of things on this $ 1.9 trillion liberal pork wish list that I just can’t swallow,” Rice said.
‘He knew he was going to get a little imp’
Walter Whetsell, a campaign advisor for Rice, said the primary election ended in more than a year and the anger subsided until a month ago.
“It will really be difficult to run a campaign against Tom Rice based on some factors from Trump,” said Whetsell. “He has a very, very solid record of supporting the things in Congress that Donald Trump fought for.”
J. Edward Bell III, a South Carolina lawyer who made donations to Democrats and Republicans, including Rice, said he was “pleased how I could see that someone voted for him.”
“He knew he was going to catch a little devil, but I think in the long run, as Trump … the brightness starts to fade, I think he will be seen as a visionary,” said Bell.
Rice himself thinks that Trump is the one who has lost political support. If the presidential election were held now, he said Trump would lose to Biden in a “landslide”.
“I can absolutely guarantee that he would get nothing close to 74 million votes,” Rice said. “I doubt he won my district today.”
Still, Rice could use the help of the Republican Party business wing.
Many corporations have decided to suspend and revise their donations to 147 Republicans in Congress who opposed the 2020 election certification, a typically monotonous case that pro-Trump rioters turned into a last-ditch resistance to overturn the election.
Rice pointed out that some House Democrats in previous election cycles have also opposed certification. “I think Republicans are the ones who should be responsible,” he said.
But Rice said he did not “regret raising the issue” of electoral fraud, although there is no widespread evidence of this and Trump has lost numerous disputes in court. He said a letter from the president of the Pennsylvania Senate was instrumental in his decision to oppose, although he “guessed” after the violation of the Capitol. He said he had already announced his position and “did not want to back down on my word” and change it.
Rice clearly didn’t like Trump’s strong weapons approach to that vote, or the pro-Trump crowd using violence to make their point.
“This is the executive branch attacking the legislature,” said Rice. “And I don’t suffer well with bullies.”