Sole GOP vote on House police reform bill says he ‘accidentally pressed the wrong voting button’

Rep. Lance Gooden (Texas), the only House Republican to vote in favor the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act on Wednesday, tweeted Wednesday evening that he cast the wrong ballot by accident.

“I accidentally pressed the wrong voting button and realized it too late. I have changed the official record to reflect my opposition to the partisan George Floyd Policing Act,” Gooden said in a since-deleted tweet.

He later posted a similar tweet that included a record of changing his vote to no, adding that he “wouldn’t support the radical left’s, Anti-Police Act.”

I have arguably the most conservative/America First voting record in Congress!

Of course I wouldn’t support the radical left’s, Anti-Police Act.

I have changed the official record to reflect my opposition! pic.twitter.com/s7uCdlxvgO

— Lance Gooden (@Lancegooden) March 4, 2021

The measure passed the House 220-212 Wednesday night, a vote initially scheduled for Thursday but pushed up after Thursday’s House session was canceled amid concerns about threats to the Capitol from adherents of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory.

Two Democrats voted against the measure, Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.). The bill will face an uphill battle in the 50-50 Senate. However, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) expressed optimism about talks with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the chamber’s sole Black Republican and the author of his own police reform bill.

Attitudes toward policing, Beatty said, are “different than the last time, where we are in the country.”

“I think it has given people more feeling of: this could be the right thing to do at the right time,” she added.

Floyd, the bill’s namesake, died May 25 in Minneapolis after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s pleas that he was unable to breathe. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests and some violent riots, although research indicated 93 percent of demonstrations were peaceful.