Eleven House Democrats missed a crucial vote Tuesday that could have kept an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth alive, drawing criticism from colleagues as several lawmakers blamed traffic delays for their absence.
The House voted 211-204 to send eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, effectively blocking an immediate vote on impeachment.
The 11 missing Democrats had enough votes to defeat the motion, which would have failed 215-211 had they all voted against it, keeping the impeachment effort alive.
“We knew that this vote was coming, so people should have gotten their raggedy selves up these steps to vote,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-California) told reporters. “There is no reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues.”
“Shame on folks who are not here,” she said. “Because these people lost. They lost, and they still found a way to show up to table this bill. Shameful.”
A senior Democratic aide disputed that the votes of members blocked by traffic from returning to the Capitol 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.
The Washington Sun contacted the offices of the absent Democrats seeking explanations for their missed votes.
Three of the absent lawmakers, Reps. Laura Gillen (D-New York), Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois) and Melanie Stansbury (D-New Mexico), blamed a traffic incident and a police-escorted bus that stalled intersections for preventing them from reaching the House floor in time.
“While en route to the floor to oppose that motion, a traffic incident and a police-escorted bus caused a delay that resulted in the vote closing before I, along with other Members, could reach the chamber,” Jackson said in a statement to The Sun.
Stansbury and Gillen offered a similar explanation, adding that they reached the chamber just as the vote ended.
Both Jackson and Stanbury said they subsequently entered their opposition to the motion in the Congressional Record. Those statements did not change the official vote tally.
The office of Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Washington) also blamed a motorcade for her absence.
“The Congresswoman was stuck behind a motorcade and missed the vote by 1 minute. She would have voted against the motion to refer,” her chief of staff, Andrew Noh, told The Sun.
Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada) missed the vote because of a personal emergency, according to his office, adding that he would have voted against the motion to refer. He plans to enter his opposition in the Congressional Record.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) was in San Francisco attending a Veterans Day celebration, where she was being honored for her advocacy on behalf of veterans.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi returned to San Francisco to join and honor local veterans at Swords to Plowshares’ 30th Annual Veterans Day Celebration tonight, an important and longstanding district tradition she regularly attends and will mark for the last time as a Member of Congress by receiving the Lifetime Advocate for Veterans Award,” Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager told The Sun.
“She supports impeaching Secretary Hegseth and would have voted ‘No’ on the motion to refer,” Krager added.
Rep. Lou Correa (D-California) was also in his home state, where he said he was preparing to undergo a medical procedure and had been advised by his doctor to avoid traveling until he was medically cleared.
He did not say how he would have voted on the impeachment motion.
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Virginia) said the absent Democrats had been attending an event and failed to return in time.
“Should have never happened, but that’s the way it played out,” Vindman said.
The other absent Democrats were Reps. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan), Julia Brownley (D-California), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and Frederica Wilson (D-Florida).
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Tuesday that he would discuss another impeachment effort against Hegseth with his members in the next Congress, when Democrats are set to take control of both the House and Senate.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) introduced the articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of violating congressional war powers, conducting unlawful military operations and abusing his authority at the Pentagon. Massie lost his reelection effort in a Republican primary to Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein.
Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed a statement to Rep. Steven Horsford that was also included in a photo caption. The statement was from Rep. Jonathan Jackson, who said traffic delayed his return to vote on the impeachment motion.