The Epoch Times
Jack Phillips
February 18, 2021
Of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump, five have been censured by various state and county Republican Parties or by voters.
On Feb. 15, the North Carolina GOP unanimously voted to censure Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is retiring in 2022, after he voted to convict despite previously saying it was unconstitutional to impeach a former president.
“By what he did and by what he did not do, President Trump violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution,” Burr stated on Feb. 13.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict and is up for reelection in 2026, said he did so because he “took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and I take that oath seriously.” However, his move was denounced by the state’s GOP.
The Louisiana Republican Party unanimously voted to censure—or officially condemn—Cassidy for his vote on the same day that he voted to convict the former president.
The Lincoln County Republican Party unanimously censured Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) for “dismissing the legitimate concerns” of Nebraska’s secretary of state, Nebraska’s attorney general, “and a huge majority of Republican voters,” while it said he failed “to respect the high office of the President of the United States.”
Sasse could lose the most politically, as the senator could be a 2024 Republican presidential candidate. He’s likely to face blowback from Republican voters, who, according to polls, view Trump very favorably.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who faces reelection in 2022, was censured by Republicans in six state House districts over her vote to convict.
“I stand my ground. If I had to take that vote again, I would vote to uphold my oath of office,” she said after voting, according to the Anchorage Daily News. “And, if the party is to censure me because they felt that I needed to support the party, they can make that statement, but I will make the statement again that my obligation is to support the Constitution that I have pledged to uphold, and I will do that, even if it means I have to oppose the direction of my state party.”
In Pennsylvania, the York County GOP censured Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is slated to retire in 2022.
“Given his recent support of the second unconstitutional impeachment effort against a president who is no longer in office the York County Republican Committee has reached the limits of its frustration,” Republican state Rep. Dawn Keefer wrote.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a noted Trump critic from within the Republican Party, will not be censured by the Utah Republican Party after the organization said it wouldn’t do so. However, a widely circulated petition condemns the 2012 Republican presidential candidate for using “his senatorial power and influence to undermine” Trump.
The state GOP noted that Romney and fellow Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who acquitted Trump, cast different votes.
“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,’” the Utah Republican Party said in a Feb. 15 statement, explaining that it won’t censure Romney.
Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) hasn’t faced any punitive actions from within her party or a petition, although the state GOP is reportedly meeting to discuss potentially censuring her.
