Maine Democrat announces he’ll vote for only one article of impeachment against Trump

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) announced Tuesday that he will split his votes on the House’s articles of impeachment against President Trump, voting for the abuse of power article but against obstruction of Congress, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Golden, who voted in favor of the impeachment inquiry, has been under fire from state Republicans for the vote.

{mosads}In 2018 Golden beat incumbent Bruce Poliquin in the first congressional election under the state’s ranked-choice voting system by about 3,000 votes after Poliquin led by about 2,000 on election night but fell short of an outright majority. His district went for Trump in 2016 by 10 points.

Golden said the House had “clearly” demonstrated that Trump and other administration officials committed abuse of power by attempting to use the office of the presidency to damage political opponents, according to the newspaper.

“This action crossed a clear red line, and in my view, there is no doubt this is an impeachable act,” he wrote in a formal statement submitted to Congress.

However, Golden added that he believed that the second article, obstruction of Congress, did not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” outlined in the Constitution as an impeachable offense.

Golden is one of 27 Democrats from districts Trump carried who have publicly backed impeachment. Only two have publicly come out against it: Reps. Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), the latter of whom has hinted at changing his affiliation to Republican.