Most House Democrats voted Tuesday to keep an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump alive, breaking with their leadership’s position weeks before voters decide which party will control the chamber. The vote exposed a division Democrats would face if they regain the House: whether to pursue another impeachment or keep their attention elsewhere.
The House voted 232-147 to table the resolution introduced by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, over Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. All 147 votes against shelving the measure came from Democrats, while 18 Democrats joined 213 Republicans and one independent to dismiss it, according to the official House tally.
Another 46 Democrats voted present, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California. Although Tuesday’s procedural vote was not a vote to impeach Trump, it showed that most Democratic members were unwilling to shut down Green’s effort despite their leaders’ objections.
Democratic leaders have emphasized the investigative steps they say must precede impeachment. In a Monday statement, Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar called impeachment a “sacred constitutional vehicle” that “traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process” that had not taken place. Their position left the question of a future impeachment effort open rather than rejecting it outright. The statement described the disagreement as one the party could confront if it wins the majority.
“This is something, oftentimes, I think the right-wing media wants us to talk about, but it’s not anything that is top of the agenda for House Democrats,” Aguilar told reporters before the vote.
The result nevertheless demonstrated the limits of that message within the caucus. Far more Democrats voted to keep Green’s resolution alive than voted to dismiss it, while the party’s three senior House leaders declined to take either position.
Democrats impeached Trump twice during his first term, and the Senate acquitted him both times. Tuesday’s vote does not establish that another impeachment would follow a Democratic victory in November, but it puts the party’s unresolved disagreement over pursuing one before voters. Axios reported that some Democrats privately regarded the effort as a distraction from their midterm messaging.
