The Democrats who failed to show up to the vote to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth are now groveling to the media and their constituents, with Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) allegedly getting caught in a lie about his whereabouts.
Nearly a dozen House Democrats missed the vote on outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) effort to oust Hegseth, which failed 211-204. As a result, a lot of backlash from their own party has been thrown at Reps. Julia Brownley (D-CA), Lou Correa (D-CA), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), and Frederica Wilson (D-FL).
Some of the absent members were attending a reception for Elect Democratic Women (EDW), a PAC co-founded by Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), when the vote was taking place on Tuesday evening.
A range of excuses were offered by some of the missing members. Correa said he had a medical procedure, Horsford claimed he had an unspecified “family emergency,” and Pelosi’s spokesperson said she was attending a Veterans Day event in California.
Pettersen stated that she was simply “denied the ability to vote” — presumably because she showed up too late.
Jackson made the amazing error of speaking with TMZ just outside of the Capitol ahead of the vote, which he somehow missed and blamed on traffic.
After telling TMZ’s Charlie Cotton that he “can’t wait” to impeach Hegseth, he failed to show up to vote and claimed on X that “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.”
