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Texas Democrats Will Likely Vote For Impeachment — Even The Moderate Ones

Rep. Henry Cuellar represents Texas' 28th Congressional District, and is known to be more moderate than his Democratic colleagues. But though he hasn't announced his decision, he is expected to vote for President Trump's impeachment.
Shelley D. Kofler/Texas Public Radio
Rep. Henry Cuellar represents Texas' 28th Congressional District, and is known to be more moderate than his Democratic colleagues. But though he hasn't announced his decision, he is expected to vote for President Trump's impeachment.

From Texas Standard:Polls show that the country is nearly evenly split about whether President Donald Trump should be impeached. That might put Texas politicians in a precarious position given that Texas isn't the reliably conservative state it once was. Lawmakers who support Trump will please their base of supporters, but they also risk alienating others.

Benjamin Wermund is Washington correspondent for the Houston Chronicle. He says he expects lawmakers to  vote along party lines – even moderate Democrats at risk of losing their seats in 2020 and Republicans who've expressed concerns about Trump's conduct.

"Two of the last remaining major question marks — [Democrats] Lizzie Fletcher from Houston and Colin Allred from the Dallas area — both came out in support of impeachment last week," Wermund says. " [Republican] Will Hurd — he's been somewhat critical of Trump ... but he's been pretty clear he's gonna vote against impeachment."

Wermund says Hurd doesn't want an impeachment of Trump to set a "dangerous precedent" for future administrations.

Moderate Democrat Henry Cuellar, who represents a district that covers a large swath of Texas' southern border, hasn't announced which way he'll vote. But he's still a Democrat, and Wermund says he'll likely vote along party lines.

"He's certainly one of the most moderate Democrats in the House," Wermund says. "But ... I would be very surprised if he did break party ranks."

 

Written by Caroline Covington.

Copyright 2020 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit KUT 90.5.

Rhonda is the newest member of the KUT News team, joining in late 2013 as producer for KUT's new daily news program, The Texas Standard. Rhonda will forever be known as the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the first full-time hire for The Texas Standard?” She’s an Iowa native who got her start in public radio at WFSU in Tallahassee, while getting her Master's Degree in Library Science at Florida State University. Prior to joining KUT and The Texas Standard, Rhonda was a producer for Wisconsin Public Radio.