October 31, 2019

Meet the Democrats Who Voted Against the Impeachment Inquiry

Jeff Van Drew

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ)Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

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In a display of unity that would have been unthinkable just two months ago, 231 House Democrats voted Thursday morning to formalize the impeachment process. Over the summer, the party seemed hopelessly split on the issue. That all changed after the emergence in September of a whistleblower complaint revealing President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to launch investigations against his political enemies.

This week, several longtime holdouts from districts Trump won—Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Anthony Brindisi of New York, and Jared Golden of Maine—announced their support for the impeachment resolution. Democrats also had the backing of Michigan independent Justin Amash, a one-time Freedom Caucus conservative who left the Republican Party earlier this year after calling for impeachment.

Still, two Democrats voted against the impeachment probe Thursday. Here’s who they are:

Jeff Van Drew

One of four New Jersey Democrats to flip GOP congressional seats last year, Van Drew has been particularly skeptical about impeachment. “If we are going to have an impeachment inquiry and procedure [leading up to the] 2020 elections, it will be very counterproductive,” Van Drew said in September, according to the Press of Atlantic City. Van Drew, whose district Trump won by 5 points, is among the most conservative members of the House Democratic caucus. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that impeachment could “secure the presidency for Donald Trump” and, according to the paper, he echoed a series of GOP talking points about the Ukraine scandal. This week, he told Politico that he was leaning toward a “no” vote. “I didn’t know that it was really necessary at this point,” he said.

Collin Peterson

Like Van Drew, Peterson is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. Unlike Van Drew, he’s been on Capitol Hill for decades. His rural Minnesota district has moved sharply to the right in recent years—Trump won it by 30 points in 2016, and Peterson’s recent victories have been narrow ones. “If anyone thinks a partisan impeachment process would constrain President Trump, they are fooling themselves,” he told the Detroit Lakes Tribune in September. “Without significant bipartisan support, impeachment proceedings will be a lengthy and divisive action with no resolution.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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