After challenging lawful electoral votes, Kansas, Missouri Republicans call for unity
Kansas and Missouri Republicans are calling for national unity — days after they voted to throw out lawful electoral votes from two states that went for President-elect Joe Biden.
The region’s House delegation is likely to break along party lines this week as the U.S. House takes steps to remove President Donald Trump office for his role in inciting the deadly Capitol riot.
The Democratic-controlled House will vote on multiple measures in an effort geared at ejecting Trump, who has little more than a week left to his term. Members will also consider moves to facilitate his prosecution after he leaves office and possibly block him from running again.
“The insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Anything less is a threat to the republic and to the rule of law in this country,” Kansas Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids said last week.
“By inciting this riot, President Trump has made it clear that he is unable to faithfully discharge the powers and duties of his office. That is why I’m calling on the U.S. Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment now. If the Cabinet Secretaries and Vice President do not act, we must swiftly impeach the President and remove him from office. Our democracy, safety, and security are at stake.”
The 25th Amendment enables the vice president and a majority of the cabinet to declare the president incapacitated and unable to serve. Invoking it to remove Trump would be an unprecedented—but constitutional—step.
The House will vote on a measure Tuesday calling for Vice President Mike Pence to exercise this option. He has reportedly rebuffed this call even after pro-Trump rioters called for his execution.
It will be followed by a vote early Wednesday on impeaching Trump for “incitement of insurrection” for urging supporters to march on the Capitol.
Davids, Missouri Democratic Reps Emanuel Cleaver and Missouri freshman Democratic Rep. Cori Bush have all expressed full-throated support for impeachment and other measures calling Trump to account.
Both Davids and Cleaver voted to impeach Trump in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he pressured Ukraine’s government to announce an investigation of Biden, the former vice president and leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Senate trial after a second impeachment may not actually take place until after Biden takes office on January 20. But Democrats see it as an important step to ensure future presidents do not try to use force to subvert an election.
Republicans from the region have condemned the violence, but resist the idea of removing Trump with just days left in his presidency.
“I fully support a complete investigation into every aspect of the events on Jan. 6, including everyone involved and especially those who bear the personal responsibility of actually entering the Capitol,” said Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican who represents the Wichita area and is the senior Kansas member in the House.
“However, Nancy Pelosi’s pursuit of impeachment will only sow more division and chaos in an already precarious situation.”
Estes— along with freshman Kansas GOP Reps. Tracey Mann and Jake LaTurner— voted to exclude Pennsylvania and Arizona’s presidential electors just hours after the riot in an unsuccessful bid to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Estes did not acknowledge Biden’s status as president-elect until a day after the riot, saying he expected “to see a smooth and peaceful transition of administrations,” a statement that came after the bloodshed on Capitol Hill and weeks of Trump administration officials refusing to cooperate with Biden’s transition team.
LaTurner similarly said there will be a peaceful transition of power.
“The Electoral College has spoken; it is time for our country to turn the page,” the freshman congressman said.
But the Electoral College certified its results on December 14. Congress’ session last week was to count those results and LaTurner voted to exclude Arizona’s 11 electors.
“The focus should be on bringing the criminals that broke into the Capitol to justice and conducting a bipartisan investigation into the security breakdown,” LaTurner said.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Republican whose district stretches from the Kansas City area to central Missouri, compared the deadly riot to a coup attempt. But she still voted in favor of the objections to the swing states’ electors and plans to oppose Trump’s impeachment.
“The forced removal of the President with less than a week remaining in his term is a political theater that the nation can do without,” Hartzler said in a statement.
“Next week, Joe Biden will be sworn in as President of the United States. We should be focused on bringing our nation together, not tearing it further apart. The Speaker’s actions are self-serving and do nothing other than provide a great disservice to our country.”
Hartzler’s statement noting that Biden would soon be sworn in as president did not acknowledge her votes overturn the election. Missouri Rep. Sam Graves, whose district covers northern Missouri, did not respond the multiple requests for comment on the upcoming impeachment votes.
The only House Republican from Missouri to vote against overturning the election was Rep. Ann Wanger, who represents the St. Louis suburbs and co-founded the Suburban Caucus, aimed at helping the GOP regain seats in suburban swing districts after losses during the Trump era.
Wagner, who was in Jefferson City on Monday for Gov. Mike Parson’s inauguration, did not immediately say how she planned to vote on impeachment.
Wagner survived tough re-election fights in 2018 and 2020, but her district is expected to become more Republican-friendly when the Missouri General Assembly adjusts boundaries based on the 2020 Census.
The expected gerrymandering will protect Wagner in a general election against a Democrat, but could make her vulnerable to a primary challenge. Trump remains popular with a significant number of Republican voters even after last week’s chaos.
While the measures are expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House, they face an uncertain future in the Senate, which will soon transition from GOP to Democratic control, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 chamber.
The House can impeach with a simple majority, but the Senate requires two-thirds to convict. Only one Republican, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, voted to impeach Trump during his first trial in January of last year.
This time more Republicans have indicated their openness to the idea, including Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a retiring Republican whose state the president repeatedly maligned in the lead-up to the violence.
Two senators from the Kansas City region, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, voted to overturn the election. Hawley, who became the face of the effort, is under pressure to resign or potentially be expelled.
Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt and Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran voted against the objections to states’ electors along with the majority of senators from each party.
Moran’s office said he would wait to see what the House passed this week before commenting. Neither Moran, nor Blunt has directly addressed the growing calls for Hawley’s expulsion.
During a Sunday appearance on CBS, Blunt criticized Trump’s actions in the lead-up to the riot as reckless, but he also panned the effort to remove Trump and called for a refocus on Biden’s incoming administration.
“We should be thinking more about the first day of the next presidency than the last day of his presidency, in my view,” Blunt said on Face the Nation.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 11:36 AM.
