Steyer group targeting 12 congressional Democrats over impeachment

Liberal activist Tom Steyer’s Need to Impeach campaign on Monday announced it will target 12 House districts in an effort to take aim at Democrats who do not yet support impeaching President Trump. 

Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) are among those whose districts will be targeted. 

The other Democrats whose districts are on the list are Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), and Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.). 

{mosads}The campaign, which said it will spend $360,000 in the first weeks of the initiative, plans to roll out a series of digital advertisements, billboards, events and outreach programs to local officials in the districts.

Though calls for impeachment have grown among some progressive Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has sought to temper impeachment efforts, arguing it could backfire on the party heading into 2020.

Swalwell has not called for Trump’s impeachment publicly but said last week that “we’re ultimately ending up there,” while Cummings said in April that impeachment proceedings against Trump were a possibility after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe. 

Clyburn said earlier this month that he believed Trump would be impeached “at some point” but later walked back the remarks, saying he was “probably farther away from impeachment than anybody in our caucus.” 

The focus on impeachment among some Democrats comes as Mueller effectively punted the issue to Congress, saying charging Trump with obstruction of justice was “not an option” for him during his 22-month investigation.