Rep. David Valadao’s (R-CA) reelection win in California’s 22nd District, called Monday night by the Associated Press, finalized the tally of House Republicans who survived the 2022 election cycle despite voting to impeach Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Valadao was one of only two to make it to the 118th Congress. Out of the 10 who voted to impeach, four decided not to run for reelection and four lost in the primaries to Trump-backed candidates. In two of the districts where the pro-impeachment Republicans were ousted, Democrats managed to flip the seats, demonstrating that Trump continues to galvanize the party to vote against him.
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Here’s how the “Impeachment 10” fared in the midterm elections:
Returning to Congress: Valadao and Dan Newhouse (R-WA)
Valadao’s race in his central California district was the last of the 10 to be called. Unlike most others, Trump didn’t endorse a challenger, and Valadao beat Democrat Rudy Salas by 3.4 points. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reportedly urged Trump not to get involved due to the race being a battleground that President Joe Biden won by 10 points. Valadao defeated a Trump-aligned challenger in the primary.
Newhouse fended off a bid from Trump-endorsed Loren Culp in the primary, advancing along with Democrat Doug White to the general election in the state’s top-two primary system. In the red-leaning district, Newhouse easily won reelection.
Lost primaries to Trump-backed Republicans who went on to win general election: Reps. Tom Rice (R-SC) and Liz Cheney (R-WY)
Cheney became one of Trump’s top targets after she both voted to impeach him and bucked her fellow GOP leaders to become vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol. After being ousted as Republican Conference chairwoman, the No. 3 position in GOP leadership, Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman ousted her in the Wyoming Republican primary and coasted to election in the general.
Rice was censured by the South Carolina Republican Party for his impeachment vote and faced stiff competition from Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry. Fry won the primary by a 25-point margin over Rice and comfortably defeated Democrat Daryl Scott on Nov. 8.
Lost primaries to Trump-backed Republicans who were ultimately defeated in the general election: Reps. Peter Meijer (R-MI) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)
Meijer lost his reelection bid in the centrist, Grand Rapids-area district to Trump-endorsed John Gibbs. Gibbs beat Meijer by nearly 4 points but then lost the general election to Democrat Hillary Scholten by nearly 13 points. She is the first Democrat elected to represent Michigan’s 3rd District since 1974 and was aided by redistricting favorable to her party.
Herrera Beutler lost the primary to Joe Kent, whom Trump endorsed, by half a point. Kent went on to lose to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez by 1 point. Perez’s victory was an upset, as Trump won the district by 5 points in 2020.
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The four impeachment Republicans who decided not to run for reelection were Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), John Katko (R-NY), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and Fred Upton (R-MI).
In the Senate, seven Republicans voted to impeach Trump, but several were not up for reelection this year. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) appears likely to keep her seat due to Alaska’s ranked choice voting. The other two who were up for reelection, Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Richard Burr (R-NC), opted to retire. Republican Ted Budd won the North Carolina Senate race, while Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman flipped the Pennsylvania seat blue.
