Republicans Hate Mayorkas, But They Couldn’t Impeach Him

The House GOP’s quest to impeach Biden’s homeland security secretary ended in failure.

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House Republicans didn’t have the votes to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Veronica G. Cardenas/AP

The vote to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas failed on Tuesday, showing once again that House Republican leadership is struggling to hold together its tiny majority.

The vote appeared doomed when two House Republicans, Ken Buck and Tom McClintock, publicly stated that they would vote no on impeaching Mayorkas. A third Republican, Mike Gallagher, reportedly questioned the precedent it would set during the Republican caucus meeting Tuesday morning. All three went on to vote with Democrats against impeachment.

With Majority Leader Steve Scalise already out of the office due to his health, House Republicans could not afford the defections. All Democrats voted against impeachment — Rep. Al Green even showed up unexpectedly in a wheelchair following a surgery wearing what appeared to be hospital scrub pants and no shoes.