Here's What Happened to the 10 House Republicans Who Voted for Trump's Second Impeachment

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty; Samuel Corum/Getty; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty

Trump waspreviously impeached in December 2019on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his Ukraine scandal, though no Republican members of the House voted in favor of his impeachment then.

President Donald Trump flaunts a newspaper headlines about his impeachment acquittal during a news conference in the White House earlier this month.NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty

Since he left the White House, Trump has remained extremely relevant in Republican politics, endorsing candidates he supports — and who support him — while often speaking out against those he considers as disloyal.

What’s become of the 10 Republicans who crossed party lines in 2021 to impeach the leader of the GOP? Four announced their retirement from Congress. Six decided to run for reelection this year, where they’ve been met with mixed results. Here’s how they’ve fared.

GOP Members Who Chose to Seek Reelection

Rep. Liz Cheney.Sarah Silbiger/Getty

Rep. Liz Cheney(Wyoming)

A Wyoming Republican with a conservative legacy (her father is former Vice PresidentDick Cheney), Rep.Liz Cheneyhas become one of the most outspoken adversaries of former President Trump. She’s the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and has taken center stage during its public hearings this summer.

Of her role on the committee, Cheneysaid in July, “I believe this is the most important thing I’ve ever done professionally and maybe the most important thing I ever do.”

“Lincoln ultimately prevailed,” Cheney told supporters. “He saved our union, and he defined our obligated as Americans for all of history.”

She also vowed to “do whatever it takes to ensure that Donald Trump is never anywhere near the Oval Office.”

The next morning, Cheney was asked aboutpossible presidential aspirations. “That’s a decision that I’m going to make in the coming months, and I’m not going to make any announcements here this morning — but it is something that I am thinking about,” she said in aTodayshow interview.

She also acknowledged how much the GOP has changed in recent years to become a “cult of personality” and the work she considers necessary “get this party back to a place where we’re embracing the values and the principles on which it was founded.”

“The Republican party today is in very bad shape. And I think that we have a tremendous amount of work to do,” Cheney said. “I think that it could take several election cycles, but the country has got to have a Republican party that’s actually based on substance, based on principles.”

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Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler(Washington)

“I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth. I believe President Trump acted against his oath of office, so I will vote to impeach him,” Herrera Beutler said before casting her career-ending 2021 vote.

Rep. Peter Meijer(Michigan)

The Michigan Republican had been on the job for little more than a week when he contemplated a vote to impeach the president from his own party. He called the decision “career suicide before my career ever began” in aninterview withThe New Yorker.

In the Aug. 2 primary,Meijer lost his reelection bidafter serving just one term in Congress. “I’m proud to have remained true to my principles, even when doing so came at a significant political cost,” Meijer said after he conceded to his primary opponent, John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official who had the former president’s support and who’s embraced his “stolen election” narrative.

Speakingof Jan. 6 a year after the attack, Meijer said, “We have to face it for what it was. We have to recognize the threat of political violence, and say that we should not be tolerating that. That was one of the reasons why I voted for impeachment, the fact that we cannot, in our political system, be playing around with such dangerous rhetoric and encouraging, spurring, inciting people to go and try to use force, use threats, use violence in order to achieve a political end.”

Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse.Getty Images

Rep. Dan Newhouse(Washington)

“Our country needed a leader, and President Trump failed to fulfill his oath of office,” the Washington Republican said of his decision to impeach.

Newhouse was on the ballot in November’s general election, soundly defeating leading Democrat Doug White in Washington’s 4th Congressional District and securing another term in the House.

Trump’s preferred candidate, Loren Culp, a 2020 Republican nominee for governor, was not a top-two candidate in the primary, and had not advanced to the general election.

“For those who disagree with me on this issue, I hope they will remember my lifelong support for conservative causes and values,” Newhouse said after the impeachment.

Tom Rice.Kevin Dietsch/Getty

Rep. Tom Rice(South Carolina)

“I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But this utter failure is inexcusable,” Rice, a South Carolina Republican, said of his decision to vote for impeachment in 2021.

Despite his pre-impeachment support for the former president, which he touted on the campaign trail, voters chose Rice’s opponent, Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry, in South Carolina’s District 7 June primary.

“If we are going to have a scenario where the president can try to intimidate Congress into doing what he wants, well shoot, we might as well have a monarchy,“Rice told NPR in February.

Rep. David Valadao

California, like Washington, has an open primary system, and Rep. Valadao was one of the two candidates to advance to the general election in November for the state’s 22nd District. The other is Democrat Rudy Salas. Though there were two other Republicans vying for Valadao’s seat, he was able to fend off the challengers.

Valadao hasn’t felt the same backlash as other Republicans who voted to impeach the former president, and Trump did not endorse a candidate for the primary.

“President Trump was, without question, a driving force in the catastrophic events that took place on Jan. 6,” Valadao said after his vote to impeach.

“His inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense. It’s time to put country over politics,” he also said.

GOP Members Who Chose to Retire

Rep. Fred Upton(Michigan)

The Michigan congressman announced in April that he won’t seek reelection in 2022 after more than three decades in office, joining four others who previously made the same decision.

“As a former Boy Scout, I believe in leaving the campground better than one found it,” Upton said,The Washington Postreported. “Even the best stories have a last chapter. This is it for me.”

“UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go,” Trump said in a statement at the time, according toUSA Today. “Others losing badly, who’s next?”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger.Susan Walsh/AP/Shutterstock

Rep. Adam Kinzinger(Illinois)

“There is no doubt in my mind that the president of the United States broke his oath of office and incited this insurrection,” the Illinois representative said of his impeachment vote.

By Oct. 2021, Kinzinger, a former Air National Guard pilot who served two tours in Iraq, announced he won’t run for election in 2022 after six terms in Congress.

“My passion for this country has only grown,” he said at the time. “My desire to make a difference is bigger than it’s ever been. My disappointment in the leaders that don’t lead is huge. The battlefield must be broader, and the truth needs to reach the American people across the whole country.”

Kinzinger has become a high-profile Trump critic and openly shared thethreats he’s receivedfor taking on the former president.

As one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, the congressman took center stage during its televised hearings over the summer.

Inannouncing his retirement, Kinzinger implied he has more to offer in American politics. “I want to make it clear,” he said, “this isn’t the end of my political future but the beginning.”

Anthony Gonzalez.GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez(Ohio)

In September 2021, the Ohio congressman became the first of the 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment toannounce his retirementrather than face a reelection fight in Trump’s cross-hairs.

Gonzalez cited concerns for his family life — he has two small children — and the demands of being a member of Congress.

“That’s one of those moments where you say, ‘Is this really what I want for my family when they travel, to have my wife and kids escorted through the airport?'” he said,according toThe New York Times.

John Katko.zach D Roberts/Getty Images

Rep. John Katko(New York)

The Syracuse Republican said his decision not to seek a fifth term in 2022 was made based on a desire to spend more time with family.

“Great news, another one bites the dust. Katko, from Upstate New York, is gone!” Trump said in a statement.

In aMarch interview, Katko expressed confidence that he would have won if he’d decided to run again, despite redistricting.

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“I was quite certain, even with the redistricting that was done in New York state, that I had a path to victory,” he said. “And I had a very good path to victory.”

He added that former President Trump’s call to get rid of all 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment factored into his decision “not at all.”

source: people.com