Eleven House Democrats missed a crucial vote on Tuesday night that could have kept alive an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — and the absences have set off a round of finger-pointing inside the party a week after its midterm victories.
The House voted 211 to 204 to send eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, effectively blocking an immediate floor vote. Had all 11 missing Democrats voted against the referral, the motion would have failed 215 to 211, keeping the impeachment effort alive. The articles, brought by Representative Thomas Massie, a retiring Kentucky Republican, accused Hegseth of mishandling the war in Iran and the bombing of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean without congressional approval.
At least six of the absent Democrats said they were stuck in Washington traffic while returning from an event held by Elect Democratic Women, the Democratic Women’s Caucus electoral wing, about a mile and a half from the Capitol. A traffic incident and a police-escorted bus stalled intersections as the vote was closing, several lawmakers said. Representatives Laura Gillen of New York, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico were among those who blamed the delay; Jackson said the hold-up meant the vote closed “before I, along with other Members, could reach the chamber.” Representative Marilyn Strickland of Washington said her office told her she missed the vote by one minute behind a motorcade.
Other absences had different explanations. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in San Francisco for a Veterans Day event, her office said. Representative Lou Correa cited a medical procedure, and Representative Steven Horsford cited a personal emergency. Representatives Haley Stevens of Michigan, Julia Brownley of California, Brittany Pettersen of Colorado and Frederica Wilson of Florida were also absent. The vote had been long scheduled for 5:30 p.m. as a 15-minute vote, and Republicans kept it open for nearly half an hour.
The missed vote drew sharp criticism from colleagues. “People elect us to do the responsible thing, and the minimum is to show up and vote on such an important vote like this,” Representative Vicente Gonzalez of Texas said. “A lot of us are disappointed that everyone wasn’t there.” Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California said there was “no reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues,” adding: “Shame on folks who were not here.” Representative Pat Ryan of New York said he had checked himself out of the hospital a day after back surgery so as not to miss the vote, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also criticised the absentees.
Some of the anger was aimed at the party’s leadership. In private, some Democratic lawmakers described the vote as a misstep for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Representative Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip, immediately after the party’s midterm wins. Clark told a whip meeting on Wednesday that it was lawmakers’ jobs to show up and warned that the caucus could not disappoint the voters who had just given them their new majority, according to people familiar with the meeting. A senior Democratic aide disputed that the absent votes would have changed the outcome, arguing that Republicans had only two members unavailable and closed the vote even though they knew more members were en route.
Republicans stayed united on the vote except for Massie, the impeachment effort’s instigator. With the articles now referred to the Republican-led Judiciary Committee, they are unlikely to advance during the remainder of the lame-duck session. Jeffries has said impeaching Hegseth will be a priority when Democrats take control of Congress in January.
