{"id":230451,"date":"2026-11-12T10:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T10:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/democrats-lambast-absent-peers-after-republicans-block-hegseth-impeachment-attempt-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T10:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T10:29:10","slug":"democrats-lambast-absent-peers-after-republicans-block-hegseth-impeachment-attempt-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/democrats-lambast-absent-peers-after-republicans-block-hegseth-impeachment-attempt-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats lambast absent peers after Republicans block Hegseth impeachment attempt – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eleven Democrats missed the key procedural vote on the impeachment effort, which failed by just seven votes
US politics live \u2013 latest updates<\/a>
Democratic lawmakers expressed outrage at nearly a dozen of their colleagues for missing a vote Tuesday evening to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth<\/a>, allowing Republicans to defeat the effort.
Eleven Democrats missed the key procedural vote on the impeachment effort<\/a>, which failed by just seven votes. Some blamed traffic and conflicting events and others accused Speaker Mike Johnson of closing the vote early. Many of those not in the Capitol said they support the effort to impeach Hegseth.
\u201cYou should show up and do your job,\u201d Abdul El-Sayed<\/a>, the senator-elect of Michigan, said on CNN<\/a> to the Democratic lawmakers Tuesday.
Richard Ojeda, the representative-elect of North Carolina, told CNN that the Democratic representatives \u201cfailed\u201d by not voting.
\u201cShame on them for not showing up,\u201d Ojeda said on Tuesday. \u201cI mean, this is important \u2026 they had an opportunity to finally get rid of this buffoonery we had.\u201d
The missing Democrats gave House Republicans the numbers to shelve the impeachment effort by voting 211 \u2013 204<\/a> to refer eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth to a House committee.
Speaking at Arlington national cemetery to mark Veterans Day, Donald Trump praised Hegseth and said he had done a \u201cfantastic job\u201d as the Pentagon head.
\u201cI had a feeling that was going to happen,\u201d the president said of the failed effort to impeach Hegseth, adding: \u201cHe loves you, and he protects you \u2013 he\u2019s all about you.\u201d
The articles, introduced by Republican Thomas Massie<\/a>, included charges of violating congressional authority by waging war in Iran<\/a>. The effort came after voters overwhelming cast ballots for Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterms, largely in rebuke of the Trump administration\u2019s policies \u2013 including the war in Iran.
Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a representative from California, told MeidasTouch there was \u201cno reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues\u201d.
\u201cThis is what the people have been talking about \u2026 so shame on folks who were not here because these people lost,\u201d Kamlager-Dove added.
Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico wrote on X <\/a>that she was \u201cblocked from entering the Capitol to vote due to a traffic incident and a police escort of a bus during the vote\u201d.
\u201cWhen she reached the chamber the vote had just gaveled out. She immediately filed a report of her vote of \u2018NO\u2019 to the motion meant to kill the impeachment articles and refer them to the Judiciary Committee, as documented in the Congressional Record,\u201d Stansbury wrote, adding that Hegseth \u201cmust be impeached now\u201d.
Laura Gillen of New York similarly wrote on X<\/a> she too was stuck in traffic but \u201cstrongly\u201d believes Hegseth should be impeached. Jonathan Jackson, of Illinois, wrote on X <\/a>that he also was stuck behind the traffic jam.
Brittany Pettersen of Colorado wrote on X <\/a>that she was \u201cdenied\u201d the ability to vote. A member of Pettersen\u2019s office later told 9News<\/a> she too was stuck in traffic.
Julia Brownley of California wrote on Facebook<\/a> that Johnson \u201cclosed the vote\u201d before she could make it to the House floor.
\u201cAs I and many of my colleagues were rushing to the floor to support Hegseth\u2019s impeachment, Mike Johnson closed the vote before we could,\u201d Brownley wrote.
Marilyn Strickland of Washington also missed the vote by one minute because she was stuck behind a motocade, but that she would have voted to impeach Hegseth, Strickland\u2019s office told Politico<\/a>.
Nancy Pelosi of California missed the vote because she was in San Francisco to meet with local veterans and accept a Lifetime Advocate for Veterans Award, Pelosi\u2019s spokesperson told SFGate<\/a>.
Lou Correa of California wrote on Instagram<\/a> that he was undergoing a medical procedure and remaining in his district until he was medically cleared.
Steven Horsford of Nevada, Haley Stevens of Michigan and Frederica Wilson of Florida did not provide public reasons for their absence on Tuesday.
Several Democratic lawmakers who did vote on the effort to impeach Hegseth noted that they were also busy with other life events but still made their way to the Capitol.
Pat Ryan of New York wrote on X<\/a> that he was recovering from back surgery but left the hospital early in order to cast his vote.
Congressman Glenn Ivey, a Maryland Democrat, called the absence of the 11 lawmakers during Tuesday\u2019s vote \u201ccertainly disappointing\u201d, but said there would be \u201cother chances\u201d to advance impeachment efforts.
In an interview, Ivey said he was \u201cabsolutely\u201d supportive of renewing the push when Democrats<\/a> regain control of both chambers in January.
At the same time, he argued that voters made clear that concerns about the cost of living remain their top priority.
\u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of people, in my district anyway, [whose ability] to stay in their house depends on whether Hegseth gets impeached or not,\u201d Ivey said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been calling it the affordability agenda, but I think for many people, it\u2019s really a survivability agenda, and we need to be focused on that.\u201d
<\/span> This story was updated on 11 November 2026. A previous version incorrectly stated that Brittany Pettersen is a lawmaker from California; she is from Colorado.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eleven Democrats missed the key procedural vote on the impeachment effort, which failed by just seven votesUS politics live \u2013 latest updatesDemocratic lawmakers expressed outrage at nearly a dozen of their colleagues for missing a vote Tuesday evening to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, allowing Republicans to defeat the effort.Eleven Democrats missed the key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}