Lawmakerswho voted against Biden denounced,

Republican members of Congresswho voted against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory, even after a mob broke into the Capitol, are getting blasted by critics in their home districts who demand that they resign or be ousted.

Protesters, newspaper editorial boards and local-level Democrats have urged the lawmakers to step down or for their colleagues to kick them out. The House and Senate can remove members with a two-thirds vote or censure or reprimand with a majority.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn “needs to be held accountable for his seditious behavior andfor the consequences resulting from said behavior,” a group of Democratic offifficials wrote in a letter asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to expel the North Carolina freshmanwho took his oath of offiffice on Jan. 3.

Cawthorn said he had a constitutional duty to vote against Biden.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in Congress arepushingtohave President Donald Trump impeached for encouraging the insurrection and refusing to act to stop the violence. But they have been quiet about whether lawmakers who backed the untrue claims of voter fraud that led to the melee should be punished.

Most previous expulsions have beenformemberswho backed the Confederacy during the Civil War or for taking bribes.

In St. Louis on Saturday, several hundred people protested against Sen. Josh Hawley, the fifirst- term Missouri Republican who led efffffffffffforts in the Senate to overturn Biden’s election. The protesters painted “RESIGN HAWLEY” in large yellow letters in the middle of the street.

Acaravanof about 40cars circled Sen. Ron Johnson’s offiffice inMadison, Wisconsin, urginghimtoresign. Johnson initially supported Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, but after the riot, he votedinfavor of Biden’s win. Johnson condemned the violence but did not back offff voter fraud allegations.

The editorial boards of two of Wisconsin’s biggest newspapers called for Johnson to resign, joining with editorials published across the country that targeted GOP politicians.

The Houston Chronicle, long a critic of Sen. TedCruz, said in an editorial that the Republican knew exactly what he was doing andwhat might happenwhen he took to the Senate flfloor to dispute the election results.

“Those terroristswouldn’t have been at the Capitol if youhadn’t stagedthis absurd challenge to the 2020results in the fifirst place,” the newspaper wrote.

Cruz has called the attack a despicable actof terrorism, but he continues to push for a commission to investigate the presidential election.