SC’s Joe Cunningham decides how he’ll vote on Trump impeachment
U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, a top target for defeat in 2020 by Republicans, will vote in favor of impeachment, the congressman confirmed to McClatchy Monday.
“We are a nation of laws and no single person is above the rule of law in America,” Cunningham said, according to a statement from his office. “Even the President needs to be held accountable if he violates the Constitution.”
Cunningham’s decision was first reported by the Post and Courier Monday.
Elected in 2018, the Charleston Democrat ended a streak nearly four decades long of Republican control in the state’s 1st District. Facing a tough re-election battle, Cunningham has managed to keep his public statements on impeachment neutral, consistently telling reporters and constituents that he was waiting to see more evidence before deciding whether to support impeaching President Donald Trump.
Trump has been accused of withholding aid from the Ukrainian government and asking the country’s president to open an investigation into his political opponent former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The House Judiciary Committee drew up two articles of impeachment — accusing the president of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power — and passed them Friday.
The full House of Representatives could vote on the articles as soon as Wednesday.
Cunningham said he agreed with both of the charges leveled against Trump.
“I did not come to Congress to impeach the President,” Cunningham said in the statement. “But after careful consideration of the evidence and testimony delivered to Congress by dedicated public servants, many of whom the President himself appointed, it is clear to me he committed an impeachable abuse of power.”
“The President used the power of his office to coerce a foreign government into investigating his political rival for personal gain,” he added. “By refusing to cooperate with Congress and lawfully-issued subpoenas, the President clearly obstructed Congress. For these reasons, I support the Articles of Impeachment.”
So far in office, Cunningham has employed a “Lowcountry over party” leadership approach, allowing him to cater to his constituents, whether conservative or moderate, based on where they stand on issues, College of Charleston political scientist Gibbs Knotts said.
“It’s probably the most important vote that he’s going to take in his first two years in office,” Knotts said of the impeachment vote. “I think the whole country is going to be looking at districts just like this. He is going to get asked about this in every debate and every forum he does between now and the 2020 election.”
Knotts said Cunningham’s commitment to vote for impeachment shows that the congressman “is willing to be a check on executive power.” Cunningham’s Democratic supporters will appreciate that about him, a move that could stave off a primary challenger, he said.
But a vote in favor of impeachment also could hurt Cunningham in the historically conservative district, where he is the first Democratic representative in 40 years.
“If he votes no, that could help him in the general election with some of those middle of the road voters that are out there that didn’t send him to Washington to try to send Trump out of office,” Knotts said.
Republicans want to know how Cunningham’s constituents will react to his decision on impeachment.
In early December, the S.C. Republican Party commissioned a poll of registered voters in the 1st District. Pollsters asked voters whether they would be less likely to vote for the congressman again if he voted in favor of impeachment. More than half — or 57.2% — said yes.
Republican’s running for the chance to challenge Cunningham in 2020 weighed in on the congressman’s decision.
“South Carolina’s Lowcountry deserves a member of Congress who will fight against wasting taxpayers’ time, money and energy on partisan political games,” Republican congressional hopeful Kathy Landing tweeted.
S.C. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Berkeley Republican also seeking the 1st District GOP nomination, tweeted “@JoeCunninghamSC is proving he’s part of the partisan problem in DC. He claimed to be something different when he ran last year, yet now, like most of his votes, he’s handing his vote over to Nancy Pelosi and the DC Democrats for a partisan witch hunt.”
Cunningham has been the wildcard vote in South Carolina’s congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat, has said he would support impeachment, while the Republicans in the delegation — Reps. William Timmons, Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, Tom Rice and Joe Wilson — have stood against the proceedings.
Cunningham’s opponents also haven’t waited to use his position on impeachment to attack him.
As Cunningham tried to navigate the impeachment field while keeping neutral, he was attacked by conservative opponents regularly. In mid-November, Cunningham’s coastal South Carolina district was flooded with newspaper and TV ads punching at the congressman for voting in favor of making the impeachment inquiry public.
Though opponents said Cunningham’s favorable vote in October was a sign he supported impeachment, the congressman made clear that he hadn’t made up his mind on whether the president should be impeached.
“There were two choices in this decision — to keep this investigation behind closed doors or bring it out into the open for the American people to see,” Cunningham said in a statement in October. “I chose the latter.”
Reporter Emma Dumain contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 2:26 PM.
