Lawmakers hear a wide range of opinions on impeachment.

Dems find variances in voter interest on topic

YORKTOWN, Va. — In suburban Philadelphia, it took a little more than eight minutes into the question-and-answer session at freshman Rep. Madeleine Dean’s town hall before someone asked about impeachment.

“I actually wondered whether anybody would bring it up,” Dean told the crowd of about 150 Wednesday in a Montgomery County Community College auditorium.

At a meeting Tuesday in military-heavy Yorktown, Virginia, another newly elected Democrat, Rep. Elaine Luria, never got asked about it at all.

Since House Democrats swept to power in November, the seams of their big-tent majority are being stretched over the difficult issues surrounding whether to start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

Town hall sessions in local districts this past week revealed how much or how little impeachment is on voters’ minds. Lawmakers were at home the same week special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his first and potentially last public statement on the matter.

The differing opinions expressed to lawmakers offer a snapshot of the challenges facing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the many conversations to come.

About 15 people waited at a library in Memphis on Friday to meet with Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat who was one of the earliest House proponents of impeachment.

One constituent, Lloyd Brown, 62, said he is watching the impeachment process closely.

“I do think that Congress should proceed with impeachment hearings, because I believe that will bring out some of the facts that haven’t become public yet,” Brown said.

Cohen, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, discussed the possibility of impeachment, expressing his hope that Mueller will testify before the House. The congressman said that even if Trump is impeached, he does not think the president will be convicted in the Republican-controlled Senate.

“But I do think he should have his day of reckoning,” Cohen said.

Adrian Sainz The Associated Press U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., speaks with constituents Friday in Memphis, Tenn. Cohen is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a proponent of President Donald Trump’s impeachment.