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March 8, 2021

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

Ecosystem Eco Notes

Enviro Congressional Scorecard: Good Grades for Dems, a Zero for Rep. Harris

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The League of Conservation Voters released its annual congressional scorecard Thursday, and the Maryland delegation lined up about as expected:

Six House Democrats — Reps. Steny H. Hoyer, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie B. Raskin, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John P. Sarbanes and David J. Trone — received perfect 100% scores. Rep. Anthony G. Brown (D) got 95% on the scorecard, and the state’s two senators, Benjamin L. Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, scored 92% grades.

Rep. Andy Harris

The lone Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, Rep. Andrew P. Harris, got a zero.

Harris’ lifetime score from LCV is 3%, while the Democrats’ range from 82% (Hoyer) to 99% (Raskin).

“President Biden has wasted no time putting climate at the top of his agenda to protect our future,” Maryland LCV’s executive director, Kim Coble, said in a statement. “Thankfully we have representatives who have stood up for Maryland’s values and put our future first. But Representative Andy Harris continues to side with corporate polluters over Maryland’s health and environment.”

According to LCV, the scores were tabulated using 21 House votes that advanced pro-environmental and pro-democracy bills, provisions, and government funding. In the Senate, for the fourth year in a row, the majority of the 13 scored votes were based on nominations both to the federal bench and the Trump administration.

The scorecard also includes votes on removing public monuments to racism and policing and criminal justice reform. LCV leaders say racism and environmental justice issues are increasingly intertwined.

Nationally, the U.S. Senate, which was under Republican control in 2020, had a 46% score from LCV. The House, which was in Democratic hands, scored 59% collectively.

“In an incredibly difficult and unprecedented year and with the most anti-environmental president ever, pro-environment members of the 116th Congress paved the way for transformational action on climate and environmental justice,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld.

By Josh Kurtz

Census Data Delay Likely Means No Redistricting Session This Fall in Md.

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The U.S. Census Bureau’s decision to delay releasing population data until fall almost certainly guarantees that Maryland lawmakers won’t redraw the state’s political boundaries before next year, political analysts said on Tuesday.

The bureau originally planned to get results of the 2020 Census to states by March 31. But officials announced on Friday that they will provide it by Sept. 30 instead.

They blamed the delay on the COVID-19 crisis, which made surveying every household in the country, a labor-intensive process that involves millions of face-to-face interactions, more difficult.

Maryland and other states will use the data — once they get it — to craft congressional and legislative boundaries that will be used for the next five election cycles, beginning with U.S. House and General Assembly contests in 2022.

The delay in receiving population data makes it highly unlikely the legislature will meet in special session this fall, according to three people knowledgeable about the process.

Instead, lawmakers will have to tackle congressional and legislative redistricting when they convene in January for the 2021 session.

There is no way to replicate the more generous timeline that lawmakers had in 2011, said Patrick H. Murray, a former chief of staff for the late Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., now the top aide to Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski Jr. (D).

For that redistricting, then Gov. Martin J. O’Malley (D) announced a redistricting committee in the summer, the committee drafted a congressional map in early October and the legislature convened a special session to consider it later that month, Murray recalled.

Given advances in computer software since the 2011 redistricting, lawmakers and their staffs won’t necessarily need a lot of time to draw new lines, said Daniel M. Clements, a retired lawyer and longtime Democratic activist who has been involved in past redistricting efforts.

But pitched battles that often occur internally — among incumbent members of Congress and the General Assembly over various precincts — can take time to resolve.

The 2022 primary election is set for June 28. And the deadline for candidates to file is Feb. 22.

Assuming it does not get pushed back, legislators will have less than six weeks to conclude a process that is fraught with political intrigue and where emotions can run hot.

“You will have that piece, but the shorter time means they just have to resolve it quicker,” Clements said.

In January, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) created a nine-person redistricting commission to study Maryland’s population changes, take public input and draw a set of boundaries that he can submit to the legislature.

The panel will have three Democrats, three Republicans and three voters who aren’t registered with any political party.

Cato Institute senior fellow Walter Olson, a Republican; retired federal judge Alex Williams, a Democrat; and Howard Community College President Kathleen Hetherington, an independent, will serve as co-chairs.

The other six slots will be filled by a group of applicants who put their names forward prior to the Feb. 12 deadline.

Olson would not disclose the number of people that applied, but he described them as “an impressive and diverse group of applicants.”

The governor’s commission will hold statewide hearings once it is empaneled.

Olson said the delay in Census data compresses the amount of time the panel will have to do their work.

“Our work has to be done later and with somewhat more time pressure than would have been predicted,” he said. “We have our assignment, which is to propose maps for U.S. House [districts] and for the General Assembly. Whether a special session occurs or not is not part of our to-do list.”

Speaking on WBAL Radio, Hogan again slammed Democratic leaders in the General Assembly for how they have drawn lines in the past and for rebuffing his efforts to take line-drawing out of the hands of legislators.

He pledged to submit the commission’s maps as his own, “without any influence or tampering.”

“I have the power as governor to draw districts,” he added. After that, he conceded, “it’s a battle between the executive branch and the legislative branch.”

By Bruce DePuyt

Mizeur Reports Fast Fundraising Start in Her Bid for Congress

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Heather Mizeur, the former state delegate and gubernatorial contender who recently announced that she’s seeking the 1st District congressional seat in 2022, said Tuesday that she’s raised $225,000 in the first two weeks of her campaign.

Mizeur, who has been fairly quiet on the political front since her 2014 bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, joined the race against U.S. Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R-Md.) on Jan. 28, citing the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and Harris’ votes against certifying President Biden’s election and against impeaching former President Trump.

“So far in 2021, Andy Harris has disputed the results of a free and fair presidential election, refused (to disastrous ends) to certify those election results, voted against holding Donald Trump accountable for the deadly attack on our U.S. Capitol and was caught trying to carry a gun onto the House floor,” Mizeur said in a statement Tuesday. “Something deep within me was awakened by this.”

Mizeur said she has received about 1,400 campaign contributions since her announcement, averaging $158. The first fundraising quarter of the 2022 election cycle ends on March 31, and candidates’ campaign finance statements are due with the Federal Election Commission on April 15.

Harris, who will be seeking his seventh term, reported $1,043,179 in his campaign account as of Dec. 31.

The 1st District, which takes in the Eastern Shore and portions of Baltimore, Harford and Carroll counties, has a very conservative electorate. But Mizeur, if she becomes the Democratic nominee, would be the highest profile general election challenger that Harris has had since he won the seat in 2010.

Mia Mason, the 2020 Democratic nominee, also plans to try again, and other Democrats may be eyeing the race. Harford County Executive Barry Glassman has said he’s considering challenging Harris in the Republican primary.

By Josh Kurtz

Heather Mizeur to Challenge Congressman Harris

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Heather Mizeur, the former state delegate who ran a surprisingly strong bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2014, announced Thursday morning that she plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Andrew P. Harris, the lone Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, in 2022.

In a four-minute video announcement, Mizeur said she felt compelled to run following the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“The events of Jan. 6 have forever changed us, Mizeur said in the video. “Witnessing a treasonous insurrection against the citadel of our democracy, with the express encouragement of those bound by a Constitutional oath to protect it, is an unforgivable betrayal.”

Mizeur went on to condemn Harris’ actions that night ― when witnesses say he almost got into a fistfight with a Democratic colleague ― and more recently, when he attempted to bring a gun onto the U.S. House floor. Capitol police say they are investigating that incident.

“These behaviors have stirred within me a conviction that we must present an alternative choice,” Mizeur said. “We deserve representation that reflects the very best qualities of who we are and where we are from. That is why, today, I am launching my campaign for Congress.”

Following a stint on the Takoma Park City Council, Mizeur spent eight years in the House of Delegates, launching a longshot, grass-roots campaign for governor that became a sensation in many progressive circles. Despite being heavily outraised by her two better-known opponents, who already held statewide office, Mizeur finished a surprisingly strong third in the 2014 Democratic primary.

Mizeur then largely faded from public view, moving with her wife Deborah to a farm in Chestertown and eventually launching a nonprofit called Soul Force Politics, a political training organization that seeks to bridge the divide in political and civic life.

Prior to her own career in politics, Mizeur worked on Capitol Hill, as a policy adviser on health care to then-U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

In her announcement video, Mizeur said her experience “has prepared me for this unique moment in history.”

Challenging Harris could be quite the undertaking, however. The 1st District, which covers the Eastern Shore plus portions of Harford, Baltimore and Carroll counties, is mostly conservative territory, and Harris, who is seeking his seventh term, has never had to sweat reelection.

But the district lines could change before the 2022 election ― and Harris could potentially face a tough Republican primary challenge next year, possibly from Harford County Executive Barry Glassman or state Sen. Stephen S. Hershey Jr.

In her announcement, Mizeur did not offer specific policy prescriptions, but promised to deliver “dignified, heart-centered collaborative leadership” along with “smart and innovative policy thinking.”

“I ask one thing of all the people who join me in this journey ― that you bring your best self to this race,” she said. “We are not running against someone. We are running for our dedication to a better tomorrow.”

By Josh Kurtz

U.S. Capitol Police Investigating Handgun Incident Involving Rep. Harris

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The United States Capitol Police have opened an investigation into an incident involving Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R-Md.), following reports he entered the U.S. Capitol with a firearm.

HuffPost reported that Harris set off newly installed metal detectors outside the House chamber on Thursday and was stopped by Capitol Police. 

One officer motioned to another to indicate that the First District lawmaker had a weapon hidden inside his suit coat, the site reported. 

A journalist who witnessed the encounter reported that Harris tried to offload the weapon to a nearby colleague, Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), but Katko refused to take it, telling Harris he didn’t have “a license.” 

HuffPost also heard Harris complain to some fellow members that he had asked his staff to remind him about the screenings and they hadn’t.

Harris then left on the elevators and 10 minutes later returned to the House chamber, the site reported. He placed his cellphone and keys on a desk to the side, did not set off the magnetometer and was allowed to enter the House floor.

In an email on Thursday night, U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki told Maryland Matters, “The USCP is investigating the matter.”

NBC News reported on Thursday that a “Capitol official” who was present “saw a firearm on the person of Rep. Harris and relayed that to his superiors.”

“To be clear, Rep. Harris did not enter the Floor,” the official said. 

The metal detectors outside the chamber were ordered put in place by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. They have become a flashpoint among some Republican members, and they have at times created tension with police.

Harris’ communications team frequently does not respond to requests for comment from reporters and they did not respond to an email from Maryland Matters on Thursday night. But they did release a statement to Fox 45 News in Baltimore, which said:

“Because his and his family’s lives have been threatened by someone who has been released awaiting trial, for security reasons, the Congressman never confirms whether he nor anyone else he’s with are carrying a firearm for self-defense. As a matter of public record, he has a Maryland Handgun Permit. And the congressman always complies with the House metal detectors and wanding. The Congressman has never carried a firearm on the House floor.” 

Despite the District of Columbia’s strict gun laws, members of Congress are allowed to carry unloaded weapons in congressional office buildings and on the Capitol grounds, but not in the chamber. 

Several GOP members have boasted of carrying weapons wherever they go, prompting calls from Democratic lawmakers for metal detectors to be installed outside the chamber. 

Pelosi is reportedly considering fines for members who bypass security checkpoints inside the Capitol. 

HuffPost reported on Thursday that Harris “has repeatedly flouted the magnetometers that were installed near the House chamber after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.” 

The incident involving the six-term lawmaker came two weeks after thousands of supporters of former President Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

The siege forced members of the Senate and House and Vice President Mike Pence to flee into secure locations. Five people died in the uprising, including a Capitol police officer. 

The attempted coup led to the second impeachment of Trump and an unprecedented increase in security around the building. 

Harris is a loyal supporter of President Trump who has spoken frequently about his fear that the government will try to strip citizens of their guns. He is the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation and has received campaign contributions from the NRA.

Harris was one of nearly 150 GOP lawmakers to vote to block Biden’s win, even after the attempted insurrection. When lawmakers returned to the House chamber to resume their work in the overnight hours of Jan. 7, Harris got into a scuffle on the House floor with Rep. Colin Alred (D-Texas). 

Harris’s baseless claims that Biden’s win was marred by fraud has been condemned by Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) and led to numerous calls for his resignation. 

By Bruce DePuyt

Harris: ‘I’m Re-upping For This Fight,’ WBAL News Radio Reports

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Speaking this weekend with Andrew Langer on WBAL News Radio 1090 AM/101.5 FM, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st, said President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment was “the wrong way to go.”

WBAL also reported that Harris — who pledged to only serve for six terms in Congress and who introduced a term-limits resolution in 2013 — said he will run for a seventh term representing Maryland’s First Congressional District in Congress.

Harris compared it to someone in the military deciding to extend their service.

“… (A)t this point in time, I’m re-upping for this fight,” Harris said.

Md. Lawmakers Will Map Congressional Districts Based on 2020 Census

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Maryland lawmakers later this year will draw new maps for the state’s congressional districts based on the latest population statistics from the 2020 Census.

The U.S. Constitution requires the census to be conducted every 10 years. The population numbers are then used by states to draw new congressional districts, which typically is completed in time for the congressional election two years after the census.

Following the decennial census, federal law requires states to be notified by Jan. 25 by the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives on the number of congressional seats that state will have for the next 10 years.

That notification will be delayed this year, however, as the U.S. Census Bureau continues processing and tabulating the population numbers.

According to The Washington Post, the census bureau currently believes it will finalize state population numbers by March 6, more than two months after the Dec. 31 deadline.

The deadline was missed as a result of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and changes made by the administration of President Donald Trump, which is being sued over some of its decisions concerning the census.

Although the count continues, population estimates suggest Maryland will retain its eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Once the state is told how many seats it will have, Maryland lawmakers will draw new boundaries for those congressional districts. After the congressional map is approved by the Maryland General Assembly, it is subject to veto by Gov. Larry Hogan.

 

 

Harris in Shouting Match on House Floor; Backs Objections to Arizona, Pennsylvania Electoral Votes

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Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st, got into a shouting match on the House floor early Thursday morning during a debate over GOP objections to certifying the electoral votes from Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election, according to accounts from several reporters.

Pennsylvania was the second and final state whose certified electoral votes faced objections from Republican lawmakers during what is normally a routine process of Congress opening and reading the electoral votes from the states.

The debate over the first objection, to Arizona’s electoral count, came to a sudden halt early Wednesday afternoon after right-wing domestic terrorists broke into the U.S. Capitol building, forcing lawmakers to be ushered to safe locations as police took several hours to regain control of the building.

Photos and videos show the rioters breaking glass in doors and windows to enter the Capitol and overwhelming Capitol Police officers trying to keep them out. One woman was fatally shot by an officer during the melee, three others died as a result of medical emergencies, and numerous police officers were assaulted and injured by the mob that included some holding “Blue Lives Matter” flags purporting to support law enforcement.

The mob was incited by remarks made by President Donald Trump during an earlier rally in Washington, D.C.

Trump has repeatedly lied about the presidential election results, claiming he defeated Joe Biden in a landslide victory even though Biden handily won both the Electoral College vote and the national popular vote.

More than 50 lawsuits from Trump and others challenging the results have been rejected by state and federal courts across the nation, including by the U.S. Supreme Court. Many courts found the Trump lawsuits to be baseless, with no evidence supporting allegations of fraud.

As a result of the Wednesday afternoon attack on the Capitol, several Republican senators who had planned to join GOP congressmen in objecting to the results from six swing states opted to pull their support.

The objection to Arizona’s results was defeated 93-6 in the U.S. Senate and 303-121 in the House of Representatives, with Harris joining 120 Republican colleagues in support of the objection.

As the process continued, GOP objections to the results in Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada failed outright when not a single U.S. senator joined the dozens of congressional Republicans objecting to those states’ results. For an objection to be considered for discussion and a vote, at least one congressman and one senator must sign onto a written objection.

However, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, joined GOP colleagues in the House in an objection to Pennsylvania’s results.

According to a report from Maryland Matters and States Newsroom:

Shortly after delivering his own remarks challenging Pennsylvania’s election results on the House floor in the early morning hours, Harris was among lawmakers who ran toward each other during a heated debate and had to be separated by a Capitol Hill staffer.

“It didn’t materialize out of nowhere,” Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb (D) said of the unrest. “It was inspired by lies. The same lies that you’re hearing in this room tonight.”

Huffington Post reporter Matt Fuller tweeted that Harris was shouting “He called me a liar!” during the confrontation with Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Fuller later tweeted that a congressman said it was mostly Al Lawson, a Florida Democrat, and Harris in the argument, but Allred was among a group of members from both sides who converged in the aisle.

Several people commenting on Fuller’s tweet noted that Allred is a former NFL linebacker.

Below is a video of the comments Harris made during the debate on the Pennsylvania objection:

Nearly an hour later, Rep. Connor Lamb, D-Pennsylvania, spoke against the objection to his state’s electoral vote results. The argument involving Harris occurred during Lamb’s remarks and shouting can be heard on this video excerpt from C-SPAN.

As Lamb spoke, Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican, asked that his comments about Republicans lying be stricken from the record.

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Griffith’s objection was not timely and Lamb continued his remarks by noting: “The truth hurts.”

CNN reporter Kristin Wilson tweeted that Harris and Allred yelled at each other: to “sit down” “no, you sit down” from across the floor, then confronted each other in the aisle as a dozen members from each side joined them.

The objection to the Pennsylvania results was defeated in the House on a vote of  282-138. Harris was among the 138 Republican congressmen to vote for the objection.

The final objection — to the results in Wisconsin — also failed when no senator joined the objection.

The joint session of Congress ultimately certified Joe Biden’s presidential victory with an Electoral College vote of 306 to 232 for Trump.

Harris and Griffith were the only two Republican congressmen who voted against seating the newly elected House members from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Forbes reported.

A Republican Texas congressman opposed to efforts to reject the presidential results had challenged the seating of those House members, arguing that any voter fraud in those states would also affect the congressional results, according to Forbes.

By voting against that challenge, nearly all Republican congressmen essentially acknowledged the legitimacy of the congressional results in those states. Yet, a few days later, many of those GOP lawmakers said the presidential election results in those very same states should be rejected.

Md. Dems Get Perfect Score From Human Rights Campaign, While Harris Gets a Zero

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According to a congressional scorecard published this week by the Human Rights Campaign, nearly every member of the Maryland congressional delegation has voted in favor of human and civil rights bills considered during the 116th Congress, earning a perfect score of 100%.

The odd man out is Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R) who has voted in opposition to each bill that the organization used to grade members of Congress, earning a score of 0% — not just for this year but for the last three.

Harris, the delegation’s only Republican, is facing Mia Mason (D), a military veteran and champion of LGBTQ rights, in his bid for a sixth term in the First Congressional District.

The report card scored lawmakers based on their votes on a series of civil rights and anti-discrimination bills, including: 

 All of these initiatives passed in the House.

Lawmakers were also graded on their co-sponsorship of several other civil rights initiatives, including: 

  • The Do No Harm Act, which would amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to prohibit the people from using the original bill to infringe upon civil rights laws;

  • The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which would classify conversion therapy as a fraudulent and harmful practice and require the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers against it;

  • The Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2019, which would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to mandate school districts in states that receive funding under the initial bill to enforce rules that would ban harassment against individuals on the basis of their race, color, sex, orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability;

  • The Every Child Deserves A Family Act, which would bar public child welfare agencies that receive federal funding from discriminating against children and adoptive or foster families on the basis of their their gender expression, sexual orientation or marital status;

  • The FAMILY Act, which would provide aid to working families following the birth or adoption of a child, as well as in personal circumstances, like illness, which would require them to take a leave of absence from their jobs;

  • And the International Human Rights Defense Act of 2019, which would make the prevention of violence or discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community a foreign policy priority.

All of these were supported by the Human Rights Campaign. Every Democrat in the Maryland delegation, save for Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), who was sworn into former Rep. Elijah Cummings’ (D-Md.) seat in May, scored 100% on the score card’s grading scale. Mfume was not included in the tally.

Harris voted in opposition to each of these measures.

The report card also took a look at how lawmakers voted on amendments the HRC opposed, specifically:

Both of these amendments were defeated. All of the Democratic members of the delegation voted in opposition to these amendments. Harris voted in favor of the Cole amendment, but withheld his vote for the Duncan amendment.

Maryland Matters reached out to Harris for comment on his scores, but did not receive an immediate response.

By Hannah Gaskill

House Impeaches Trump; Here’s What Md. Members Said on the Floor

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Maryland’s congressional delegation voted along party lines as the U.S. House voted to impeach President Trump Wednesday night, making him the third president to be impeached in U.S. history.

Trump was impeached on charges that he abused power and obstructed Congress. The charges surround allegations that Trump improperly pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival in an effort to interfere with the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

No House Republicans voted to adopt either impeachment article. Two House Democrats voted against both articles of impeachment — Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. Van Drew is reportedly planning to switch parties to become a Republican.

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted yes on the first article but against the obstruction of Congress article. Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard voted “present” on both articles.

Maryland’s delegation voted entirely along party lines.  Democratic Reps. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John P. Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown, Steny H. Hoyer, David J. Trone and Jamie B. Raskin supported both impeachment articles. Republican Andrew P. Harris voted against both articles.

All but Trone spoke on the House floor Wednesday.

The vote came after a lengthy and heated debate on the House floor, as Democrats warned that Trump had trampled on the U.S. Constitution, while his GOP defenders accused the House majority of manufacturing a case for impeachment due to their disdain for Trump’s policies.

“The founders’ great fear of a rogue or corrupt president is the very reason why they enshrined impeachment in the Constitution,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president’s reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice.”

Only two other presidents had previously been impeached by the House: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both of those presidents were acquitted by the Senate.

Trump also appears to be headed for acquittal in the GOP-led Senate. A trial, in which House Democrats will argue their case before the upper chamber of Congress, is expected to begin next month.

Some senators have been cautious about stating whether they’ll vote to remove Trump from office, arguing that they’ll be jurors in the trial and don’t want to prejudge the outcome. But not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McConnell told reporters Tuesday that he is “not at all impartial” on impeachment and that it is a “political process.”

As lawmakers prepared to vote on Wednesday, Trump wrote on Twitter: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”

Trump held a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Mich., on Wednesday night. “By the way, it doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached, the country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like never before,” Trump said, according to The Washington Post.

Democrats, including some in districts won by Trump in 2016, streamed onto the House floor during the day-long debate on Wednesday to make their case for impeachment.

Hoyer, the House majority leader, said that in his nearly 40 years in Congress under six presidential administrations, he never expected to “encounter such an obvious wrongdoing by a president of the United States. Nor did I expect to witness such a craven rationalization of presidential actions which have put our national security at risk, undermined the integrity of our elections and defied the constitutional authority of the Congress to conduct oversight.”

Hoyer also paid tribute to one of his predecessors, the late Rep. Lawrence J. Hogan Sr. (R-Md.), one of the few Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee who supported impeaching President Nixon in 1974.

Republicans, meanwhile, spent the debate accusing their Democratic colleagues of pursuing a political vendetta against the president, pointing frequently to statements Democrats had made supporting impeachment before the Ukraine investigation was launched.

“The few Americans that are going to be watching this — because they know what the outcome is, we all know what the outcome is — they’re wondering why are we trying to negate the votes of 63 million Americans instead of talking about the things that Americans care about,” Harris said.

Democrats vehemently denied GOP attacks that they were pursuing impeachment because they hate Trump’s policies or dislike him personally.

“I resent those who say this is about reversing the election,” Ruppersberger asserted. “This isn’t about whether or not you like Trump; it’s about upholding our Constitution. Allowing this conduct to go unquestioned sets a dangerous precedent.”

One independent congressman, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, sided with Democrats to vote for both articles of impeachment. Amash, who helped found the conservative House Freedom Caucus, left the GOP earlier this year after calling for Trump’s impeachment.

Trump’s “actions reflect precisely the type of conduct the framers of the Constitution intended to remedy through the power of impeachment, and it is our duty to impeach him,” Amash said Wednesday on the House floor.

Here are remarks of Maryland’s other members on the House floor:

Brown 

“President Trump betrayed his oath. He abused his power, the immense power of the presidency. He threatened our elections by inviting foreign interference. He chose investigating a political rival over defending our national security. So today, we must use our power, the extraordinary power endowed by our Constitution and entrusted by the people, the power to impeach.”

Raskin 

“American elections belong to the American people, not the American president and not foreign powers. No president may cheat the people by working with foreign governments to steal from us a free and fair election. And no president who attempts it may cover up that cheating by systematically obstructing Congress and our work. Article 2 of the Constitution does not authorize a president to do whatever he wants. The reason we have a Constitution is to keep government officials from doing whatever they want.”

Sarbanes 

“Voting to impeach the president is a weighty decision. It is not something you reach for, it is something you’re brought to reluctantly, when the evidence presented can no longer be denied.”

“The president’s actions compromised the national security of the United States, undermined the integrity of our democratic process and betrayed the trust of the American people.”

“In soliciting foreign interference, President Trump took direct aim at the heart of our democracy. The American people should decide our elections, not a foreign country. As long as the president continues to invite foreign interference into our democracy, the integrity of the 2020 election remains at risk. The question is: Will Congress allow the president to place his personal interests above those of his country? I urge my colleagues in the House to join me in answering that question with a resounding no.”

By Robin Bravender

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