GOP official on Toomey: Wasn’t sent to ‘do the right thing or whatever he said’

The chair of the Washington County, Pa., Republican Party blasted Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Monday for voting to convict former President Trump in his second impeachment trial, saying the outgoing senator was not elected to “do the right thing.”

“We did not send him there to vote his conscience. We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us,” Washington County GOP Chairman Dave Ball told Pittsburgh-area CBS affiliate KDKA-TV.

Toomey, who is not seeking reelection in 2020, was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The vote marked the most bipartisan impeachment trial vote in U.S. history but fell short of the two-thirds required to convict and prevent Trump from seeking future office.

Since the vote, the Washington County GOP has voted to censure Toomey. The Westmoreland County Republican Party is expected to take its own vote.

Toomey issued a statement Saturday explaining his vote and blaming the former president for inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“I did what I thought was right and I would certainly like to think that regardless of my political circumstances or whether I was running for office again or not I would do the same thing,” the second-term senator said.

Other Republican senators who voted in favor of conviction, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), have also been the subject of censure votes in their respective home states. The North Carolina Republican Party voted Monday to censure Burr, who is also retiring.

“My party’s leadership has chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the Republican Party and the founders of our great nation,” Burr said in response.