On Tuesday, a procedural vote in the U.S. House of Representatives effectively derailed an effort to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, after a bloc of GOP lawmakers joined a narrow majority to refer the impeachment articles to the House Judiciary Committee, where the charges will remain in legislative limbo for the rest of the current congressional term, functionally killing the immediate impeachment push. The final tally stood at 211 in favor of referral and 204 against, a margin that was thrown wide open by the unexpected absence of 11 Democratic lawmakers, alongside seven missing Republican representatives during the roll call.
The impeachment resolution, a rare cross-party legislative initiative, was first tabled by conservative Republican Representative Thomas Massie and drew broad support from Democratic caucus members. Its formal charges accused Hegseth of issuing unlawful operational orders and waging unauthorized, constitutionally unsanctioned military campaigns in Iran and Venezuela. The 11 missing Democratic legislators included high-profile figures such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Michigan Representative Haley Stevens, New York Representative Laura Gillen, California Representative Lou Correa, and New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury, among others.
In the immediate aftermath of the vote, the absent Democrats faced a firestorm of public and intra-party backlash, prompting the group to offer a series of explanations: they cited heavy gridlock on local roadways, claims that House Speaker Mike Johnson had gaveled the vote to a close earlier than scheduled, and pre-scheduled conflicting official engagements. Further reporting from Axios congressional correspondent Andrew Solender later clarified that a large share of the missing lawmakers had been returning from a gala hosted by the Elect Democratic Women PAC, located roughly 1.5 miles from the U.S. Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue, when they became trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Independence Avenue, a major thoroughfare adjacent to the legislative complex. Records show that the EDW-affiliated Super PAC, EDW Action Fund, operates as a major pass-through vehicle for donations from the United Democracy Project, a pro-Israel advocacy Super PAC founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Criticism of the no-show lawmakers crossed partisan ideological lines within the Democratic Party, with rising progressive and centrist figures alike condemning the failure to appear. Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, speaking to CNN during a live broadcast, offered a blunt rebuke: “You should show up and do your job.” North Carolina Democratic Representative-elect Richard Ojeda echoed that frustration, stating, “Shame on them for not showing up. They had an opportunity to finally get rid of this buffoonery that we have, and they have failed,” noting that the incoming 120th Congress would revisit the impeachment matter after its swearing-in. Even high-profile progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized the basic accountability of legislative roles, drawing a parallel to her pre-political career in food service: “At the end of the day, we’re here to do a job. And the same way I had to clock in when I worked at a restaurant, we got to clock in and do our work here.”
The public outcry spilled rapidly across social media platforms, with countless voters pointing out that the missed vote came less than a week after a historic November 3 midterm election that delivered the Democratic Party its largest House seat gain in more than a century, a so-called “blue wave” that many voters had expected to translate into aggressive oversight of the sitting administration. One widely shared post from activist account The Green Dragon Tavern summed up that widespread frustration, noting, “We give House Democrats the biggest blue wave in 100+ years and they repay us by getting stuck in traffic and missing a vote to impeach a war criminal.”
A significant share of public anger also targeted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, with critics framing the mass absence as a damning demonstration of his inability to coordinate his caucus ahead of high-stakes legislative action. The controversy has reignited widespread grassroots opposition to Jeffries’ expected bid for House Speaker when the new Congress convenes, with an online petition opposing his speakership already racking up more than 1 million signatures. While the immediate impeachment push against Hegseth has been halted for the remainder of the current congressional term, officials confirmed that the new, more Democratic-heavy Congress will have the opportunity to reintroduce and advance impeachment proceedings against the Secretary of War immediately following its formal swearing-in on January 3.
Democrats face backlash after missing Hegseth impeachment vote
