As Speaker Pelosi cautions against rushing toward an impeachment inquiry, here are the House members who support it.
About half of the House Democratic caucus is now on record saying they support opening an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
The counts from various news outlets differ somewhat, but according to Politico’s latest tally, it’s now 127 of 235 House Democrats. The group has gained several important allies since they started; House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler has publicly come out for an inquiry, and Rep. Ben Ray Luján, the No. 4 Democrat in House leadership, also recently came out in support. On top of that, there’s also independent Rep. Justin Amash, who recently left the Republican Party. CNN’s tally, though, is just under half — it counts 124 Democrats supporting an inquiry.
The counts are slightly different because Politico’s includes two members who have said they actually prefer not to move ahead on impeachment right now — Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Karen Bass (D-CA) — but who have also suggested that if they were asked to vote on an impeachment inquiry, they would vote yes.
Bass has said she doesn’t think it’s “the time” to impeach Trump but would personally like to see him removed from office “immediately.” Pallone, meanwhile, has said he thinks impeachment will be a “waste of time” because it will go “nowhere” in the Senate — but, since he thinks Trump is a “racist” who “obstructed justice,” he’d vote yes anyway.
In any case, it’s clear that about half the House Democratic caucus now supports opening an impeachment inquiry at this point.
Now, supporting an impeachment inquiry does not necessarily mean that these members of Congress would vote to impeach Trump (though many of them would). They support an inquiry on the topic. It’s proven a popular position because it sounds like an open-minded effort to get more facts, without committing to a final decision.
Supporters of an impeachment inquiry are still being met with resistance from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She’s offered a variety of different reasons for her opposition to the move. But she likely believes (as most do) that there’s zero chance the Senate will remove Trump from office, and therefore fears a controversial impeachment vote would harm House Democrats representing districts that voted for Trump — something that could put her majority at risk.
Currently, the House is in the midst of a lengthy recess. Members are back in their home districts and set to return to Washington in September. So watch the various Democratic members who aren’t yet on board with an inquiry — what they hear from their constituents when they’re back home this August could make an impact.
The impeachment inquiry supporters
- Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC)
- Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA)
- Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA)
- Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)* (House Judiciary Committee member. Politico counts Bass because she has suggested she’d vote for an inquiry, but other outlets don’t because she’s said she opposes moving forward on one now.)
- Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
- Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
- Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
- Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR)
- Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
- Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD)
- Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA)
- Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
- Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA)
- Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA)
- Rep. André Carson (D-IN)
- Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL)
- Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-TX)
- Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)
- Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) (vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus)
- Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
- Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO)
- Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA)
- Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO)
- Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)
- Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) (Chairman of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
- Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
- Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
- Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA)
- Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) (House Judiciary Committee member. Deutch claimed in an op-ed that the impeachment inquiry has already begun.)
- Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
- Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)
- Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) (Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee)
- Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)
- Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA)
- Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
- Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
- Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA)
- Rep. Jesús García (D-IL)
- Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) (vice chair, House Judiciary Committee)
- Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)
- Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
- Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) (chair, Natural Resources Committee)
- Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM)
- Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA)
- Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY)
- Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT)
- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA)
- Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL)
- Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA)
- Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) (chief deputy whip of House Democratic caucus)
- Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA)
- Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)
- Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH)
- Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA)
- Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI)
- Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
- Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI)
- Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA)
- Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
- Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) (Chair of House Appropriations Committee)
- Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) (As the Assistant House Speaker, Lujan is the No. 4 House Democrat in leadership)
- Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)
- Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
- Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA)
- Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN)
- Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) (chair, House Rules Committee)
- Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY)
- Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)
- Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA)
- Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
- Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
- Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ)
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
- Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
- Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)* (Politico counts Pallone because he has said he’d vote for an inquiry, but other outlets don’t because he’s said he opposes moving forward on one now. In fact, Pallone’s office told BuzzFeed News they don’t think he should be on the list.)
- Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH)
- Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
- Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ)
- Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA)
- Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
- Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
- Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA)
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
- Rep. David Price (D-NC)
- Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL)
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY)
- Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
- Rep. Harley Rouda (D-CA)
- Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
- Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
- Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH)
- Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
- Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA)
- Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY)
- Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
- Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA)
- Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA)
- Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) (House Judiciary Committee member)
- Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) (chair, House Homeland Security Committee)
- Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
- Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY)
- Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA)
- Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA)
- Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA)
- Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX)
- Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) (chair, House Committee on Small Business)
- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) (chair, House Financial Services Committee)
- Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)
- Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)
- Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA)
- Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) (chair, House Budget Committee)
- Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI)
Author: Ella Nilsen
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