"It's past politics": Freshman Democrats explain shift on impeachment, despite reelection risks
Washington — A majority of freshman Democrats who won House districts held by Republicans in 2018 now support an impeachment inquiry, spurred by the whistleblower complaint about President Trump's conversation with the Ukrainian president. The revelation was enough to propel many of these lawmakers to speak out after months of carefully walking a tightrope over the divisive issue, several said in interviews with CBS News.
As of Thursday morning, 34 of the 43 freshman Democrats who flipped districts in last year's midterm elections had expressed support for an impeachment inquiry or believe the president's actions rise to the level of impeachable offenses if the whistleblower's claims prove to be true, a CBS News examination found.
All but six of those lawmakers represent what the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party's campaign arm, consider to be "frontline" districts, or districts Democrats must retain to preserve their House majority in 2020.
The willingness to support impeachment proceedings is a significant change of pace for these freshmen lawmakers. Many have refrained from talking about impeachment in the past, worried that doing so might hamper their own reelection efforts in districts where the president still enjoys significant support.
Movement from the new members began Monday night after seven first-term lawmakers with national security backgrounds wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post expressing support for impeachment hearings and further investigation.
"These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do," the members wrote.
In interviews with CBS News, some of these lawmakers acknowledged the political risk their actions could have in their efforts to win reelection. Representative Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said "every day is a political risk," but called the whistleblower complaint "deeply troubling" and a threat to the integrity of future elections.
"These allegations are about something a sitting U.S. president allegedly did. And they are targeted at potentially influencing 2020," Spanberger told CBS News Wednesday. "I think that my responsibility is to talk about why I have felt it necessary to say that these allegations against the president represent impeachable offenses."
In 2018, Spanberger won by 2 points in Virginia's 7th Congressional District, which Mr. Trump carried by more than 6 points. Representative Elaine Luria, another Virginia freshman who co-wrote the op-ed in the Post, also pulled off a tightly contested victory in a Trump-won district.
A Virginia Democrat familiar with the two House races said coming out for impeachment "was the last thing" either member wanted to do.
"But because of the extent of the president's actions, they were left with a choice of doing what's politically expedient or do what's right to defend the republic and Constitution," the person said. "It's no longer a political decision. At this point as a public servant, it's past politics."
Representatives Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, also co-authors of the op-ed, emphasized to CBS News that they did not run on impeachment, but instead campaigned on "kitchen-table" issues like health care and taxes that proved fruitful for Democrats in last year's midterms.
"The reason I have been so reluctant in many ways to move forward ... is how I'm afraid this might derail us from things we've got to do. But this is simply too much of an attack on our national security to be left unaddressed," Sherrill told CBS News.
"I didn't want to do it. And to me, yesterday was extremely somber. And anyone who's gleeful about it is absolutely missing the big picture idea that our country is going to be going through a very difficult time," Slotkin said. "And so I understand that there may be political risk, but I can't be basing decisions of integrity based on that."
Slotkin and Representative Haley Stevens, another freshman speaking out on impeachment, both represent parts of Michigan's Oakland County. Vaughn Derderian, the Democratic county chair, said he believes emphasizing the national security aspect of impeachment is appealing to constituents there, but says the area remains very purple and will be competitive in 2020.
"They both ran very good campaigns to appeal across party lines. We weren't counting on Republicans to stay home in 2020, neither were Stevens and Slotkin," Derderian told CBS News over the phone. "If you were already planning on a hard election, if you were planning for an election to be an 8 to a 9 on difficulty scale, how much can impeachment add to that? Nine to 9.5? That's not too much."
Chris Swopes, the party chair in Ingham County, said he's heard noticeably more discussion about impeachment among Michigan voters, but said it is not nearly as important as concerns over the ongoing General Motors strike, the state budget or health care.
"That being said, I think many of us are concerned that almost every day brings more questionable actions from this president," Swopes said. "I think the way that [Slotkin] came to it in a cautious, well-reasoned manner will add to her credibility, and I believe her district will understand why she has taken the position she has."
Lawmakers adjourn for a two-week recess on Friday and will have to answer questions about impeachment from constituents back home. Representative T.J. Cox of California, a freshman who won election by less than 1 point in 2018, said his game plan is "pretty simple."
"This is what I've always said: I've come to Washington for a simple reason, to make a positive difference in the lives of the people we serve," Cox said. "But when you have a president that blatantly disregards and abuses his power ... that just obviously creates a situation where we have to further investigate and go with facts lead us."
Republican campaign groups see the shift towards impeachment as potential plus for them. The National Republican Congressional Committee issued press releases criticizing each new member who took a stance on impeachment, and chairman Tom Emmer said in a statement that "backing impeachment will cost the Democrats their majority in 2020."
John Findlay, the executive director of the Virginia Republican Party, said impeachment "was a beyond a gift" for Republicans in Spanberger and Luria's districts.
"I think Spanberger and Luria have stopped caring for their reelections and have now become MSNBC contributors. It's worse than Mueller-Russia, and by worse I mean I think it's even more dimly viewed in the public's eyes," he said.
Two Republican challengers have filed paperwork and are raising money to challenge Spanberger, who enjoys a nearly $1 million lead.
"In a district like mine, everything's risky, right?" Spanberger said. "Everybody disagrees with me, everybody agrees with me. It's a mix. So this is an issue of duty, this is an issue of constitutional responsibility."
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of freshman Democrats who flipped districts considered "frontline" districts by the DCCC.