3 DEMOCRATS in tough spot over witnesses vote.
WASHINGTON — As the Senate impeachment trial grinds toward a climax, it remains unclear how three Democrats in particular will vote on whether to remove President Donald Trump from office.
Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are all seen as question marks.
Unlike a quartet of wavering Republican senators whose votes could the determining factors in whether to call witnesses and extend the proceedings, the three Democrats’ votes won’t likely affect the trial’s outcome. Sixty-seven votes are needed in the GOP-run Senate to remove Trump from office.
The three Democrats’ votes aren’t likely to make much of a difference, but their decisions will likely affect their political careers going forward. If one or more of them votes to acquit Trump
— even voting against one article of impeachment while supporting the other — they could alienate some Democratic voters and allow
Trump to claim in his reelection campaign that he was cleared by a bipartisan vote.
All three wavering Democrats come from states Trump won in 2016 and where Democrats struggle to win elections.
“They have reputations for being independent actors,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. “I think that’s what they’ll do here.”
“That’s very tough terrain,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said of the three Democrats’ states. “They’re all people who’ll need Republican or independent votes to win, so I’m sure they’re thinking about that.”
Jones and Manchin have said they back their party’s effort to call witnesses — Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton is a top target — while Sinema has not commented.
“Anyone who votes against hearing the evidence, witnesses and documents will be judged harshly by history,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who pointed out that he wasn’t singling out members of a particular party. “They will be haunted by history.”
GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee have all expressed a willingness to consider calling witnesses. But it is unclear how many of them will vote that way in an initial showdown vote expected Friday.
Trump weighed in on Twitter on Wednesday.
“There is much talk that certain Democrats are going to be voting with Republicans on the Impeachment Hoax, so that the Senate can get back to the business of taking care of the American people. Sorry, but Cryin’ Chuck Schumer will never let that happen!” Trump tweeted, referring to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Asked what he’d tell his undecided colleagues, Schumer said, “The only message I have is listen to the arguments carefully and make your own decision of conscience.”
Jones, 65, the only one of the three facing reelection this November, is running in a deep-red state and faces the greatest career risk. Voting to convict Trump could make it harder for him to pick off some Republican voters, while voting to acquit him could anger the Democrats whose votes, contributions and volunteering he’ll need to win.
Jones was noncommittal Wednesday about the outcome of the case, saying he wanted to evaluate the evidence.
“Now don’t go putting some d*** headline in there, ‘Still open to acquit.’ I’m open to acquit, I’m open to convict,” Jones told reporters. “I want to hear all the evidence. I want to hear witnesses.”
Manchin told West Virginia reporters Wednesday that while he wants to hear witnesses, he’s undecided about whether to acquit Trump.
He said the impeachment article alleging that Trump obstructed Congress by refusing to provide documents or White House witnesses was “the weakest” of the two charges. But, he said, the charge that Trump had abused power by pressuring Ukraine to search for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential hopeful, was “very serious.”
Manchin, 72, is a former governor and household name in West Virginia where Trump is popular. Now in his 10th year in the Senate and reelected to a six-year term in 2018, it is unclear whether he will run again for public office.
As the trial began, Sinema released a statement that shed no light on her views.
“I will treat this process with the gravity and impartiality that our oaths demand and will not comment on the proceedings or facts until the trial concludes,” she said.
Sinema, 43, has been in the Senate for a year but has already cut an unusual profile. Her start in Arizona Democratic politics was in the party’s left wing, but she has tried to carve a more moderate profile in the Senate. Her’s was the first winning Democratic Senate campaign in Arizona in three decades.
“They have reputations for being independent actors,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. “I think that’s what they’ll do here.”