In former President Donald Trump’s Senate trials over the weekend, the former president was acquitted on a vote of 57-43, 10 votes short of conviction as 43 Republican Senators voted to acquit. Most of the GOP Senators who joined their Democratic counterparts in voting to impeach or convict are already beginning to face backlash in their home states.
The Pennsylvania GOP is planning to meet to possibly discuss censuring its Senator, Pat Toomey, who voted to convict Trump in the recent trials. The county party chairs received an email from the state GOP chairman Lawrence Tabas, telling them that a meeting was being planned to discuss possible Senate action. The meeting is set to involve discussions of possibly censuring Toomey for voting against Trump, as the former president was impeached by the House for “incitement of insurrection” from the Capitol riots last January 6.
While Tabas did not return messages on Monday, several county parties in the state have already made the decision to censure Toomey even before the lawmaker cast his vote to convict. Prior to the move, a resolution to censure the lawmaker had already come up on February 6, weeks after Toomey spoke out against the former president, saying that impeachable offenses were committed. County party chairs said that Toomey told them he would vote against the constitutionality of the impeachment proceeding and if the Senate voted constitutional, he would vote to acquit.
Toomey voted for the constitutionality of the impeachment prior to voting to convict. While aides did not comment on the backlash being received by the retiring Senator, they cited Toomey’s previous comments about his vote.
While most of the GOP members that spoke out against Trump are being censured, the Utah GOP has accepted the votes made by its GOP Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee. The Utah GOP released a statement on Tuesday accepting the opposing votes cast by Romney and Lee. Romney, like in the first impeachment trial, voted to convict, while Lee voted to acquit.
“Our Senators have both been criticized for their vote. The differences between our own Utah Republicans showcase a diversity of thought, in contrast to the danger of a party fixated on ‘unanimity of thought.’ There is power in our differences as a political party, and we look forward to each senator explaining their votes to the people of Utah,” said the statement.