How members of Congress from Macon, Columbus voted in second Trump impeachment
The three congressmen representing Columbus and Macon voted along party lines Wednesday in the historic second impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The House of Representatives passed an article of impeachment charging Trump with inciting an insurrection that left five people dead after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Democrat Sanford Bishop, whose district includes most of Columbus and Macon, voted to impeach Trump. All Democrats voted to impeach, and Bishop announced his intention last week in a statement. Bishop called the attack on the Capitol building “domestic terrorism incited by our President and carried out by his supporters.”
“The President has continually lied about the 2020 election results and attempted a coup. If we do not act, what will stop this from happening in the future? If we do not act, we risk the future of our 244-year-old republic—which has already been damaged by his actions,” Bishop said in a statement last week.
Area Republicans vote against impeachment
Republican Drew Ferguson, whose district includes portions of north Columbus, voted against impeachment, according to a spokesperson. In a statement, Ferguson said congressional Democrats should set aside “vengefulness” for the good of the country.
“As our nation looks for healing in the wake of last Wednesday’s events, this impeachment exercise further drives the division in our country and could lead to more violence when we need calm. With only a few days until President-elect Biden’s inauguration, this process also has no prospect for removing the President before the natural end of his term,” a portion of his statement reads. “Moving forward with articles of impeachment for political purposes without an investigation or any semblance of due process does nothing to heal this nation.”
Republican Austin Scott, whose district includes Warner Robins and portions of north Macon, also voted against impeachment. In a statement, Scott said Democrats were seeking to “further divide our nation.”
“Make no mistake about it, these calls for President Trump’s removal would not be happening without the leader of the Democratic Party, President-elect Joe Biden’s, support,” Scott said.
Ferguson, Scott alleged election fraud
Ferguson and Scott were the only two Republican congressmen from Georgia who did not challenge Arizona or Pennsylvania electoral votes during the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s win hours after the mob stormed the Capitol.
While Ferguson and Scott did not challenge the electors last week, they were among 125 congressmen who filed a brief in December supporting Texas’ U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit over election results in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia. In a Columbus event last month, Ferguson alleged fraud occurred in the Nov. 3 election.
“I jokingly say ... somebody says how do you define pornography, and somebody says ‘I don’t know, but I know it when I see it,” Ferguson said at the event. “So, how do you define election fraud? Sometimes, I don’t know how to define it, but I know it when I see it.’”
A spokesperson for Ferguson told the Newnan Times-Herald last week that the acts at the Capitol were “despicable” and should not be tolerated. Scott made similar statements on his Twitter account, calling the violence “disgraceful.”
In addition to the Capitol insurrection, the article of impeachment mention Trump’s call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as an example of the president’s efforts to “subvert” election results. On the call, the president pressured Georgia’s top election official to “find 11,780 votes” — one more than Biden’s margin of victory. Georgia’s presidential election, Trump said, was a “scam.”
Trial before Biden inauguration unlikely
Ten Republicans voted to impeach Trump along with 222 Democrats. The final tally was 232-197 in favor of impeachment. Four members did not vote. The House must deliver the article of impeachment to the Senate for Trump’s trial to begin.
A trial before President-elect Biden’s inauguration is unlikely. The Senate is in recess until Jan. 19 and would require all 100 Senators to agree to a schedule change, the Washington Post reports.
Democrats gain effective control of the Senate once Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are sworn in. State election officials have a deadline of Jan. 22 to certify election results. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will cast the tie-breaking vote, assuming Senators vote on party lines.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 5:35 PM with the headline "How members of Congress from Macon, Columbus voted in second Trump impeachment."