A Michigan county Republican party voted this week to censure U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R) over his vote to impeachment President Donald Trump.
Meijer, a freshman congressman, joined nine other Republicans in agreeing with Democrats to swiftly pass an article of impeachment in Trump’s final days in office.
The Calhoun County Executive Committee of the Republican Party issued the censure, WBCK reported.
“Our decision to censure was not made lightly,” Calhoun County chairwoman Jeannie Burchfield said in a news release.
“Both our executive committee and other local Republicans who inundated us with calls to take action agreed that we needed to make Congressman Meijer aware, through formal means, of the numerous objections we had to his vote to support the impeachment of President Trump,” she said.
Burchfield said “a fair assessment of the facts” led to the “unprecedented response.”
WBCK noted Meijer narrowly avoided a censure from the Third District Republican committee when it deadlocked 11-11 on a similar condemnation.
Meijer’s colleague from Michigan, Rep. Fred Upton (R), was also reprimanded by his local Republican activists after voting for the impeachment article.
MLive reported in January that delegates to the Allegan County Republican Convention voted to “censure and condemn” Upton’s vote:
The delegation stated Upton “ignored the voice of his voters in Allegan County” by voting for Trump’s impeachment. The delegation claimed “incomplete evidence, little debate, and the absence of due process” led to its condemnation of Upton.
“The unanimous voice vote was confirmed during a meeting of the Executive Committee immediately following the convention by another unanimous voice vote,” the group said. “The AGOP Issues Committee is charged with making recommendations for further action.”
Meijer recently held a townhall meeting in an attempt to explain and defend his vote after the rushed process.
Constituent Cindy Witke told Meijer she was “very disappointed.”
He responded that he was “heartsick” over the notion that a number of constituents would not like his actions.
Witke disputed Meijer’s notion that Trump’s speech on the Ellipse “incited” the rioters.
“I think what happened at the Capitol is horrible, but I don’t think you reacted in the right time,” she said, referring to the quick process that saw little investigation, no testimony, and short debate.
“I went against people who told me not to vote for you because I believed in you and I’ve lost that belief.”
Another constituent, Nancy Eardley, said she “could not have been more disappointed” in his siding with Democrats.
“We thought that we lived with 10 years of (former) Rep. (Justin) Amash (I-MI) betraying us, and you did it in two weeks,” she told Meijer.
“I don’t know that there’s really much you can say that will ever change my mind and not work toward primarying you out after two years,” she said.
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