And Then There Were 9: The Road Ahead for Pro-Impeachment House Republicans

WASHINGTON — When Representative Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio looked to his political future, he saw a brutal primary contest against a Trump-backed opponent for a chance to return to the Trump-dominated House Republican caucus.

Mr. Gonzalez’s painful announcement on Thursday that he would not seek a third term would leave only nine House Republicans still slated to fight to retain their seats in Congress, who defeated former President Donald J. Trump was voted to impeach after the January 6 attack. Capital.

Each faces equally treacherous political terrain: Mr. Trump vows vengeance against Republicans who surpass him; the primary opponents supported or at least inspired and exalted by them; And even threats of violence from voters angered by lawmakers’ alleged infidelity to the former president.

“1 down, 9 to go!” Mr Trump took the crown on Friday.

Here’s a look at where nine other reps stand:

The Defiant Never-Trumpers

Liz Cheney of Wyoming

Ms Cheney, the most outspoken House Republican who voted to impeach Mr Trump, has faced the brunt of the former president’s anger. Last week, in an effort to narrow a crowded field, Mr Trump endorsed Harriet Heijman, a former Republican National Committee member and the 2018 candidate for governor in Wyoming, in the primary against Cheney.

Former Trump aides have rushed to Ms Heijman’s side to push her nascent campaign and persuade other candidates to drop out of the race. Ms Cheney has been firm in her criticism of Trump, describing her reluctance to accept the results of the 2020 election as a threat to democracy and daring Mr Trump and his allies to “bring it forward”. utterly courageous.

“If Harriet wants to cast her with those people,” Ms Cheney told Wyoming reporters this month, “I will note that they are the same people who were involved in misleading millions of Americans about the 2020 election.”

Adam Kizinger of Illinois

Of the 10 pro-impeachment House Republicans, none have raised their profile more than Mr. Kizinger, a six-term conservative who represents an outlying and rural part of northern and central Illinois. He has formed a political action committee and has become a frequent anti-Trump presence on cable television and social media since the Capitol riots.

Mr Kizinger has not formally announced a 2022 re-election bid, and the Illinois legislature, controlled by the Democrats, is likely to redraw his district to make it more difficult for a Republican to win.

Half a dozen Republicans are competing to challenge him, including Catalina Lough, a former Commerce Department official under Mr. Trump, who last year finished third in the Republican primary in a neighboring congressional district.

So far, Ms Lough has been endorsed by North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorne, one of the leading advocates of pro-Trump misinformation in Congress.

Peter Meijer of Michigan

Mr Meijer, heir to a major grocery store chain and an Army veteran of the Iraq War, was in his second week in Congress when he voted to impeach Mr Trump. Since then, he has consistently warned of the dangers of parrots by telling the lie of the stolen election.

He has also been blunt about the threats he and others like Mr. Gonzalez face to step down. At an event this summer, he said, a woman told him he would soon be arrested on treason charges and produced before a military tribunal, possibly shot.

Mr Trump has yet to endorse Mr Meijer as the primary challenger. He is a formidable incumbent: Although the former president narrowly led the West Michigan district, Meijer outranked Mr Trump. And voters in the district known for an independent streak previously elected Republican-turned-liberal Justin Amash.

The Centrist Stalwarts

John Cutko of New York

Mr Katko’s liberal politics has seen him return to Washington four times, despite his seat’s perennial position as a top Democratic target, and he has said he is running again in 2022.

Its real threat in 2022 may come from the right. Mr Trump has yet to endorse a primary challenger, but he has written to New York Republican leaders in june Because of his eagerness to do so, he vowed: “Katko will never win again.”

Far from backing down, Mr. Katko said on Wednesday Syracuse Post-Standard That Mr Trump should not be the leader of the Republican Party. “It would have been a lot easier if I didn’t vote on the impeachment vote, but I did it because it was the right thing to do,” he said.

Mr Katko, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, worked with Democrats this year to negotiate the nature and scope of a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack. But Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California rejected a deal backed by Katko because it does not investigate “political violence” unrelated to the left.

Fred Upton of Michigan

A fixture in his southwest Michigan district, Upton is in his 18th congressional term, although in recent years, his victory margin has narrowed with each election. Now, if he seeks re-election in 2022, he will face a primary challenger backed by Mr. Trump: Steve Cara, a first-term state representative who has pushed for a review of the 2020 election at the State Capitol. . Result.

A spokesman said Mr Upton would follow his practice of announcing his decision in the election year.

Over the years, Mr Upton, a longtime friend of President Biden, has prided himself on his willingness to work down the aisle. Mr Upton announced he would vote for impeachment when Mr Trump described his language as “completely appropriate” at a January 6 rally outside the Capitol.

dissatisfied

Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington

Ms. Herrera Beutler took a bizarre star turn during Mr. Trump’s second impeachment proceedings, when she revealed that Mr. McCarthy, the House Republican leader, had told him that Mr. Trump favored the crowd over a phone call with Mr. McCarthy. Had taken. The Capitol riot broke out.

Since then, Ms Herrera Beitler has remained mostly silent about her role in the proceedings and her vote to impeach Mr Trump. A campaign spokeswoman confirmed that she plans to run for re-election.

She faces what could prove to be a formidable challenge from a primary opponent Mr Trump has endorsed: Joe Kent, a former Army Special Forces officer. Mr Kent’s wife, Shannon Kent, a chief petty officer in the Navy who worked closely with the National Security Agency, was killed by a suicide bomber during a counter-terrorism mission in Syria in 2019. Mr Kent plans to speak at a rally in Washington on Saturday in support of accused defendants in connection with the Capitol attack.

Dan Newhouse of Washington

Mr. Newhouse represents a secure Republican district in central Washington; Mr Trump pushed it by 18 percentage points. Yet Washington state’s open primary system, in which the top two candidates from either party advance to the general election, allows both her and Herrera Beutler to appeal to a wider electorate than some of their Republican peers from other states. .

Mr Newhouse is campaigning for re-election as if the impeachment vote never happened, betting that voters will reward him for his attention. The wildfires that have ravaged the Pacific Northwest To be safe this summer Federal funding for police departments.

The most famous of his declared Republican opponents is Lauren Culp, the former chief of the one-man police department who last year ran the GOP nominee against Gov. Mr Kalp lost by over half a million votes, then refused to budge and falsely claimed that fraud had cost him the election.

California’s David G. valadao

Valladao’s district in the San Joaquin Valley is somewhat difficult to portray politically, given his performance in it: he won in 2012 and 2016, even though Democratic presidential candidates won the district by a two-point margin. In 2018, amidst the Democratic wave of elections, he lost by less than 1,000 votes. He reclaimed his seat last year, while Mr Biden ran in the district by an 11-point margin.

What is clear is that Mr. Valladao’s survival in such a skittish district is seen as crucial to Republican efforts to regain the House. This may explain why, despite his impeachment vote, McCarthy, now a vocal Trump ally, is helping Mr Valladao raise funds.

For his part, Mr. Valladao has been a credible Republican vote in the House since his support for impeachment and has said little about it in the intervening months, except that Voting 6 January Commission for the destruction of Mr. Katko.

But he has expressed some solidarity with other pro-impeachment Republicans: He Appeared at a fund-raiser for Mr Newhouse and eight others – all except Ms. Cheney, whose Political Action Committee donated $5,000 to Mr. Valadao.

So far, he has faced only weak opposition: his prime primary challenger lost a Republican primary to Congress in New Mexico last year.

Reached by phone on Friday, Mr. Valladao showed no interest in discussing his relationship with the former president. “I have a comm director,” he said. “Have a nice day. Goodbye.”

His communications director declined to answer questions.

Tom Rice of South Carolina

None of the 10 Republican votes for impeachment were as surprising as Mr. Rice, a conservative who had never spoken out against Mr. Trump until that point. It shocked and shut down its constituents in northeastern South Carolina. The Rush of the Land of a Dozen Republicans The goal is to oust him.

Among them are former Trump administration officials and several candidates who declared they would not vote to testify Biden’s victory.

Mr Rice’s case may offer the purest test yet of Mr Trump’s grip on the party: There is no other issue in which he has severed ties with the former president or the Republican leadership. But no one has forgotten his impeachment vote: not his primary adversary, not the Trumpian party base, and not Mr Trump himself.

“What do you call someone who votes with Trump 99 percent of the time?” Mr Rice jokes A June interview with The Washington Post. “A traitor.”