Meijer after primary loss: ‘I would rather lose office’ than make ‘sacrifices of the soul’

Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump last year, on Thursday said he had no regrets following his primary defeat by Trump-backed candidate John Gibbs. 

“Not a one,” Meijer told Julie Mason, host of SiriusXM’s “Julie Mason Mornings.”

“I would rather lose office with my character intact than stay reelected having made sacrifices of the soul,” he continued. 

Trump has backed primary challenges against Meijer and the nine other Republicans who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Rep. Tom Rice (S.C.), another Republican who voted to impeach the former president, lost his primary to a Trump-backed GOP challenger in June. 

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who co-chairs the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, is facing a Trump-backed primary challenger later this month. 

Meijer praised some of his colleagues for following their consciences despite the political cost. 

“It’s certainly been a chaotic period and a period where I’ve seen the importance of leadership and the importance of people willing to say this is wrong, but also the heavy political cost that that carries,” Meijer said. “I’m proud of some of my colleagues who have been willing to fall on their swords rather than find ways of excusing or find ways of rationalizing the unacceptable or ignoring the glaring problems that are staring us in the face.”