House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have moved forward with an impeachment resolution but not all House Democrats are on board.
Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) said Tuesday he hasn’t been supportive of impeachment efforts.
“I would imagine that I’m not voting for it,” Van Drew told a reporter from NBC News.
NEW: “I would imagine that I’m not voting for it,” Dem @CongressmanJVD says about the impeachment process resolution the House will take up Thursday saying he hasn’t been supportive of impeachment all along.
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) October 29, 2019
Van Drew represents New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District, which President Trump carried over Hillary Clinton in 2016, 51-46 percent. And this is not the first time he's spoken out about his reservations on impeachment.
"Everybody says, 'Be on the right side of history' — I think the right side of history is not to impeach," he recently told NBC News, noting that the best way to move forward is by letting voters decide in the 2020 election. "For God's sake, it's a year!"
"Impeachment, first of all, will fail because it's not going to go through the Senate," he continued. "So, at the end of the day, President Trump will still be the president...and he'll still be the Republican candidate."
President Trump praised the Democrat last month for bucking the push in his party to impeach.
....we are going to have an Election very shortly.” Rep. Jeff Van Drew, Democrat of New Jersey. @foxandfriends Thank you. Just another Witch Hunt by Nancy Pelosi and the Do Nothing Democrats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
According to Fox News, Van Drew is likely not alone.
Democratic Reps. Kendra Horn from Oklahoma, Joe Cunningham from South Carolina and Anthony Brindisi from New York -- who all won GOP districts last year but remain vulnerable Democrats in the House -- said they are skeptical of impeachment and hedged about the vote to frame the impeachment inquiry.
Similarly, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who clinched 52 percent of the votes in two consecutive elections between 2016 and 2018, is at risk of losing his seat next year in a district that Trump dominated by 31 percent in 2016.
A vote on the resolution is expected to take place on Thursday.
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