Impeachment central to 2020 US races
WASHINGTON – The day after nearly every House Democrat voted to impeach President Donald Trump, the chief of the House Republican campaign committee said the political fallout was clear.
“Last night their obsession with impeachment finally came to a head, and they basically ended their majority,” Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer said Thursday. “Max Rose is done,” he continued, listing him among freshmen Democrats from districts Trump captured in 2016 who he said won’t survive next November’s elections.
The feisty Rose, a Brooklyn native and Afghanistan combat veteran with an advanced degree from the London School of Economics, sees things differently. “Mark my words, OK?” said Rose, whose Staten Island-centered district was the only one Trump won in New York City. “We are going to beat them by such a wide margin that next time around, they won’t even talk like this again, OK?”
It’s too early to say who will be proved correct as Republicans wage a struggle to regain the House majority they lost last year. But less than 11 months from presidential and congressional elections, the near party-line House vote impeaching Trump locked in lawmakers’ positions on the subject. Many moderate lawmakers from swing districts had spent months saying they were on the fence.
Now, voters will decide whether to reward or punish incumbents for their choices. And while Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that issues like the economy and health care costs could overwhelm impeachment by next November, both sides – but especially the GOP – are already using the bitter impeachment fight as weapons.
“This is an attack on Democracy,” blared one Trump campaign fundraising email that included a thank you from “Donald J. Trump, President of the United
States.” It added, “An attack on freedom. An attack on everything we hold dear in this country. And it’s an attack on YOU.”
Freshman Rep. Harley Rouda, who ousted a 30-year House GOP veteran from what was once a Republican stronghold in Southern California, was among Democrats issuing a plea for cash.
“Last night I cast my vote to defend our Constitution and impeach the President of the United States. A vote bigger than party, polling, and politics, & we’ve faced an onslaught of attacks since,” Rouda tweeted.
Impeachment will reverberate as well in Senate races, where the GOP will be fighting to retain its 53-47 majority. That chamber is expected to begin its trial next month on whether to oust Trump from office and seems certain to acquit him.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he is cooperating with the White House and wants a swift trial with no witnesses.
That could limit the risks for GOP senators like Cory Gardner of Colorado, Martha McSally of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine. They face competitive reelection races in swing states where Republicans adore Trump but independents are divided, and these senators could also be damaged if a trial veers out of control.