How the 31 Democrats in Trump districts voted on impeachment

All but a few of the 31 House Democrats representing crossover districts where President Trump is popular voted to impeach him on Wednesday after trying to avoid taking such a tough vote for most of this year.

Only Reps. Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) — who is expected to switch to the GOP in the coming days — and Collin Peterson (Minn.) voted against both articles of impeachment accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstructing Congress.

Freshman Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) was the only Democrat to split his votes in favor of one article but not the other. He voted to impeach Trump for abuse of power, but not obstruction of Congress.

Not a single House Republican, meanwhile, voted in favor of impeachment. Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), an Independent who left the GOP in July over his support for impeachment, was the only self-described conservative to vote with Democrats. 

Here are how all of the Democrats in districts that Trump carried in 2016 voted on the articles of impeachment. The list is organized in alphabetic order by state.

Tom O’Halleran (Ariz.) 

The second-term lawmaker won reelection by nearly 8 points last year, but Trump carried his district by just more than 1 point. O’Halleran said in a statement announcing his support for the impeachment articles that he “will vote to impeach the president because this bribery and abuse of power violated the constitution and put our national security and our international relationships at risk.”

Lucy McBath (Ga.) 

McBath previously voted to advance the two articles last week as a member of the House Judiciary Committee. She narrowly unseated a GOP incumbent last year by a single point in a suburban Atlanta district that had been held by the GOP for 40 years. Trump won her district by 1.5 points. McBath on Wednesday tweeted that despite a pro-Trump super PAC having “staged a protest” against impeachment at her office, “I refuse to be intimidated, I will do what is right.”

Cheri Bustos (Ill.) 

Bustos chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and has won reelection handily in recent election cycles despite Trump winning her district by just under a point. But she waited until the day before the impeachment vote to publicly announce her intentions to support the articles of impeachment, saying that “no one is above the law, and there is beyond ample evidence that President Trump abused the tremendous powers of the presidency to jeopardize our national security and that of our allies.”

Lauren Underwood (Ill.)  

Underwood defeated a GOP incumbent last year in a district in the Chicago exurbs that Trump carried by nearly 4 points in 2016. “The president has demonstrated a pattern of corrupt behavior,” Underwood said in a House floor speech. “In order to uphold my sworn oath, I must vote to protect the Constitution and will vote in support of the articles of impeachment.”

Cindy Axne (Iowa) 

Axne narrowly unseated a GOP incumbent last year by about 2 points in a district that Trump won by 3.5 points. 

“After carefully reviewing the evidence presented from the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, it’s clear the president abused his power by using $400 million in taxpayer money for his own personal, political gain and obstructed Congress by ordering his administration to refuse to testify or provide subpoenaed documents,” Axne said in a statement.

Abby Finkenauer (Iowa)

Finkenauer, one of the youngest women elected to Congress, defeated a GOP incumbent last year by 5 points despite Trump’s victory there by about 3.5 points. Finkenauer said in a statement that she planned to support the articles of impeachment to “honor my duty to defend our Constitution and democracy from abuse of power at the highest level.”

David Loebsack (Iowa)

Loebsack is retiring after serving in the House since 2007. He easily won reelection last year in a district that Trump carried by about 4 points. “I did not come to Congress to impeach a president,” he said Tuesday. “But to ensure our democracy is not permanently weakened, there is no other option but to support the articles of impeachment that the Judiciary Committee has presented to the full House of Representatives.”

Jared Golden (Maine) 

It’s unclear whether the freshman lawmaker’s decision to split his votes will ultimately help him in a district that Trump won by more than 10 points. He risks angering Democrats who wanted him to wholeheartedly vote for both articles of impeachment but also alienating Republicans who would rather he not back impeachment at all.

Golden said that he believed the impeachment inquiry “clearly unearthed a pattern of evidence that demonstrates the corrupt intent on the part of the president, his personal lawyer, and members of his administration,” which he believed “crossed a clear red line.”

But he declined to back the second article of impeachment alleging Trump obstructed Congress, explaining that he believes “there are legitimate and unresolved constitutional questions about the limits of executive privilege, and that before pursuing impeachment for this charge, the House has an obligation to exhaust all other available options.”

Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)

Slotkin unseated a GOP incumbent last year by about 4 points while Trump carried her district by nearly 7 points. She backed the two articles earlier this week, writing in a Detroit Free Press op-ed that “there are some decisions in life that have to be made based on what you know in your bones is right. And this is one of those times.”

Haley Stevens (Mich.)

Stevens last year became the first Democrat elected to a full two-year term in her district since 1964. Trump had won the district by more than 3 points. Stevens said in a statement that Trump’s actions asking the Ukrainian government to investigate his political opponents “are a dangerous abuse of power, and they must not go unchecked.”

Angie Craig (Minn.)

Trump won Craig’s district by just more than a point in 2016, while Craig defeated a GOP incumbent two years later by 5 points. Craig called Trump’s actions “a clear abuse of power by a sitting U.S. president for his own personal gain.” She added that “my values would require the same vote if this were a Democratic president.”

Collin Peterson (Minn.)

Peterson won reelection for a 15th term last year by about 5 points even though Trump carried the district by nearly 31 points in 2016. Peterson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, has carved out a reputation in his rural district as an independent champion for agricultural interests. Peterson was one of just two Democrats to oppose both articles of impeachment, but unlike Van Drew, he plans to remain in the same party.

Susie Lee (Nev.)

Trump narrowly carried the district by about a point in 2016, while Lee won her race last year by about 9 points. “The facts are clear: The President abused the power of his office and blatantly obstructed Congress,” Lee said.

Chris Pappas (N.H.)

The freshman lawmaker won his race last year by nearly 9 points in a district that Trump narrowly carried by just under 2 points. “Ultimately, this comes down to the facts, the Constitution, and my conscience. What the president has done is blatantly wrong, and I will not stand idly by,” Pappas said.

Josh Gottheimer (N.J.)

Gottheimer, who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, easily pushed aside a GOP challenge last year even though Trump carried the district by about a point in 2016. “I must, for the sake of our country, support the articles of impeachment,” Gottheimer said.

Andy Kim (N.J.)

Kim’s race wasn’t called until more than a week after Election Day in 2018. He narrowly unseated a GOP incumbent, winning by just more than a point. Trump won the district by more than 6 points in 2016.

“I will stand up to those that abuse the power entrusted to them by the people regardless if they are Democrats or Republicans,” Kim said.

Mikie Sherrill (N.J.)

Sherrill handily beat a Republican in an open seat by nearly 15 points last year, becoming the first Democrat elected to represent the district since 1982. Trump, meanwhile, won the district by just under a point in 2016. Sherrill said that she believed Trump’s actions “undermine the values of our country, the ideals I have sworn to protect, and our Constitution.”

Jeff Van Drew (N.J.)

Van Drew is officially still a Democrat as of Wednesday but is expected to switch to the GOP in the coming days. Van Drew has long opposed impeachment and previously was one of two Democrats to vote against a resolution establishing the process for the inquiry in October. Van Drew flipped a GOP-held seat last year by nearly 8 points, compared to Trump’s 5-point victory in the southern New Jersey district. 

Xochitl Torres Small (N.M.) 

Torres Small narrowly won her race last year by about a single percentage point, while Trump carried the district by about 10 points in 2016. She said while announcing her support for the articles of impeachment that “impeachment is the necessary response.”

Anthony Brindisi (N.Y.) 

Trump carried Brindisi’s upstate New York district by more than 15 points in 2016, while Brindisi defeated a GOP incumbent by less than two points last year. Brindisi acknowledged in an interview with the Post-Standard that “I know some people will be upset with me.” He added that while he would always try to work with Trump, he would “put our country first and stand up for what I believe in.”

Antonio Delgado (N.Y.)

Delgado unseated a GOP incumbent last year by about 5 points. But Trump carried the district, based in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions, by nearly seven points in 2016. “My conscience tells me that the right thing to do is abide by my oath of office and vote affirmatively for both articles,” Delgado said.

Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.) 

Maloney, in his fourth term, handily won reelection last year in a district in the New York City exurbs that Trump carried by just under 2 points. Maloney is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and took part in the investigative phase of the impeachment inquiry. “I have faith that, in time, the facts and the evidence and the truth will matter to all of us and to history,” Maloney tweeted hours ahead of the vote.

Max Rose (N.Y.)

Rose is the first Democrat to represent his Staten Island district since 2008 and unseated the only GOP incumbent in the New York City congressional delegation. Rose won his race last year by about 6 points, while Trump carried the district by nearly 10 points. “Embarking on an unprecedented effort to obstruct this inquiry doesn’t make the facts any less true,” Rose said of Trump.

Kendra Horn (Okla.) 

Horn represents a previously GOP-held district that Trump handily carried in 2016 — by 15 points — while she won her race by just 1 point. Horn was the first Democrat to win the district in more than 40 years. But Horn said in a statement that “the oath I took to protect and defend the Constitution requires a vote for impeachment.”

Matt Cartwright (Pa.)

Cartwright won reelection to a fourth term last year by about 9 points, while Trump carried the district by about 10 points. Cartwright acknowledged in his announcement supporting the articles of impeachment that GOP-backed groups are “painting me as a crazed partisan, hellbent on impeachment.” “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he wrote.

Conor Lamb (Pa.)

Lamb won his race in a redrawn district by nearly 13 points last year, while Trump had won by about 2.6 points. “I believe that President Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress,” Lamb said.

Joe Cunningham (S.C.)

Cunningham is the first Democrat to represent his Charleston-area district since the 1980s after winning his race by about a point last year. Trump carried the district by about 13 points. “At the end of the day, this is simply about the rule of law,” Cunningham told the Post and Courier.

Ben McAdams (Utah)

McAdams narrowly defeated a GOP incumbent last year by less than a point, while Trump carried the Salt Lake City-area district by nearly 7 points. McAdams said this week that he tried to push for censuring Trump instead, but ultimately would back the articles because “his actions warrant accountability.”

Elaine Luria (Va.)

Luria flipped a GOP-held district last year by about 2 points, compared to Trump’s roughly 3-point win in the southeastern Virginia district in 2016. Luria said that Trump “clearly put his personal and political interests above the good of our country.”

Abigail Spanberger (Va.)

Spanberger defeated a conservative GOP incumbent by 2 points last year, while Trump had won the district by 6.5 points. Spanberger, a former CIA officer, said that “this vote is about more than one man’s abuse of power; it is about the power of the presidency and whether we, as citizens, can expect that our elected officials, and most powerfully, our president, will fulfill their obligation to uphold the Constitution.”

Ron Kind (Wis.)

Kind was coy up to the final hours before Wednesday evening’s vote about his decision, but ended up voting in favor of both articles of impeachment. Kind won reelection by nearly 20 points last year despite Trump’s 4.5-point victory in 2016.