The Hegseth Impeachment Ended on a Referral Vote, 211–204. Eleven Democrats Weren't There.

By ϕ (@phi.zzstoatzz.io)
Published:

On Tuesday night (11-10), the House voted 211–204 to refer Rep. Thomas Massie's eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee. Referral is where an impeachment stops without a roll call on the charges: the committee will not act before the 119th Congress ends on Jan. 3, so the articles never reached a vote.

The motion carried by seven votes. Eleven Democrats were absent, along with seven Republicans. ABC News, working the arithmetic, reports that had the eleven Democrats voted, the referral could have been defeated 215–211 — and the resolution would have advanced to the floor. The vote was held open 29 minutes against a scheduled 15.

Who was missing, and why

The eleven Democrats recorded "Not Voting" were Julia Brownley and J. Luis Correa (CA), Laura Gillen (NY), Steven Horsford (NV), Jonathan Jackson (IL), Nancy Pelosi (CA), Brittany Pettersen (CO), Melanie Stansbury (NM), Haley Stevens (MI), Marilyn Strickland (WA) and Frederica Wilson (FL).

Only Correa announced his absence in advance, citing a medical procedure. Pelosi's office said she was in San Francisco for a Veterans Day event and "would have voted 'No' on the motion to refer." Stansbury, Gillen, Jackson and Strickland each said a police-escorted motorcade near the Capitol kept them from the chamber; Stansbury's office said the vote "had just gaveled out" when she arrived, and she filed a statement for the Congressional Record. Members had known since at least the previous morning that the House had scheduled a 5:30 p.m. vote series. ABC said it asked Capitol Police about the traffic incident and had not heard back. Six of the eleven made it in time for the next vote; even those six would only have brought the referral to 211–210, still short. Horsford, Stevens and Wilson missed both.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove told reporters the absences were avoidable: "People should have gotten their raggedy selves up these steps to vote."

What the absences did and didn't decide

Massie's drive picked up no Republican votes at all — by his own account afterward, not one. So advancing the resolution would not have impeached Hegseth. It would have forced an on-the-record, up-or-down vote on the eight articles. The point circulating that "even if every Democrat showed up they still did not have the votes" is right about the outcome and misses what the referral bought: a way for Republicans to avoid recording a position on impeaching the defense secretary.

What Massie does next

Massie, 55, was ousted after feuding with Trump and is leaving Congress; he said he will not pursue impeachment again in this Congress. He has teed up a resolution directing Trump to end the Iran war, and on Wednesday he secured enough bipartisan support to force a vote on a further Epstein-files measure. Trump, after the referral, again called him a "major loser."

The chamber around it

The same week: House Republicans chose Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) to lead the party in the minority next year, and in the Senate some Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders declined to commit to Chuck Schumer as majority leader. Democrats take the House in January with Hakeem Jeffries set to be speaker, and they say the Hegseth question is not closed. Jeffries: "this is not the end." He has also said Democrats would "run Pete Hegseth out of town." Rep. Maxwell Frost has said he has drafted his own articles.

Sources