There is no way to sugarcoat this: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas surviving an impeachment push by the House GOP last night was a massive body blow. After months of gearing up for this vote, there were signs of trouble ahead, especially when Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) came out against the effort last week. House Republicans have next to no room for any defections. It was already a razor-thin majority coming into this current session—it’s been whittled further since then. That’s how Mr. Mayorkas, the Mexican drug cartels favorite government official in Washington, survived: three Republicans defected and joined House Democrats in voting down the measure (via NBC News):
A measure to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas narrowly failed in the House on Tuesday evening. Four Republicans voted with Democrats against the effort to impeach Mayorkas. See how your representative voted on impeaching Mayorkas. https://t.co/CZ1RddVsUY
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 7, 2024
A monthslong GOP campaign to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas collapsed in the House on Tuesday after Democrats and a trio of skeptical Republicans voted to reject a resolution to impeach him over his handling of the southern border.
The vote was 214-216, making a stunning blow for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Republicans who have blamed the Biden administration for record migrant crossings and made border security a central campaign issue.
After a dramatic scene on the floor where leaders tried to whip votes, the roll call ended in a rare 215-215 tie. A member of GOP leadership, Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, changed his vote to no at the last minute so that Republicans can bring the issue up again when Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., returns from cancer treatment.
“The conservative base is gonna have a real problem. And they should. The conservative base does not deserve this,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said after the failed vote, calling it a failure by GOP leadership. “It’s not that hard to know the votes.”
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Had Tuesday's vote been successful, Mayorkas would have been just the second impeachment of a Cabinet secretary in U.S. history — and the first in nearly 150 years.
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The House impeachment vote went down to the wire with GOP lawmakers saying moments before the vote that they didn’t know the outcome.
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Two GOP lawmakers — Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Tom McClintock of California — declared before the vote that they would vote no. A third, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who is close to leadership, also voted against impeachment.
The 3 no votes against impeaching Mayorkas were:
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 7, 2024
Mike Gallagher (WI-08)
Tom McClintock (CA-05)
Ken Buck (CO-04)
Blake Moore changed his vote no when asked by leadership for procedural reasons to make a motion to reconsider so that we can vote on impeachment again next week.…
From a sr Hse GOP source on the Mayorkas impeachment imploding: “Wow! We can’t even pass the ‘no brainers’ out of spite and point making. We are handing back the House to the Dems this Nov. Meanwhile the border is open, feel free to walk across, beat up our cops, and mug us"
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 7, 2024
House Republicans didn’t know if they could pass this before the vote. As with anything up on the Hill, what a mess. I’d rather we keep the powder dry than suffer something like this because the whole game plan is blown even with the articles being reintroduced later.
Mayorkas should resign or be fired by Biden for his appalling job running DHS, but we know that won’t happen. Now on the defensive, we must endure weeks of attacks with liberal media and sitting Democrats accusing us of wanting an illegal immigration problem to score political points when it’s been the crisis they created since Joe entered office.
FYSA: Impeachment vote on Mayorkas will be brought back to the floor next week. Moore voted no so that it could be reconsidered next week. It’s a procedural maneuver so it’ll pass next week (pending votes).
— Anna Paulina Luna (@realannapaulina) February 6, 2024
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