DeMint Wants to Vote Stevens Out of GOP Caucus

Amanda Carpenter | November 11, 2008 9:44 AM

Sen. Jim DeMint has told Republican leaders he will call a vote to push Alaska's disgraced senior senator out of the GOP caucus next week in a behind-closed doors meeting.

If DeMint is successful, Stevens would keep his right to vote, but would lose his plum position on the appropriations committee.

“The GOP leadership should be the first to act on this by expelling Stevens from the Republican conference and not assigning him any committee seats,” DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton told Congressional Quarterly. “We should clean our own house.”

To call the vote, DeMint will need one Republican senator to second his motion.

It is unclear if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will support the move to oust Stevens, although McConnell has publicly called on Stevens to resign from the Senate after a federal jury convicted him of seven felony counts of lying on his financial disclosure forms.

All this talk could be moot in the end. Stevens has not officially won his re-election. Votes are still being counted, although he has a narrow edge over Democratic contender Mark Begich.