Senators Toomey and Burr have already announced their retirement
Republican senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump on Saturday in the Senate impeachment trial on the charge of inciting an insurrection are already facing backlash in their home states.
The seven GOP senators who joined with all Democrats in finding Trump guilty were: Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
The Louisiana GOP said Saturday that it unanimously voted to censure Cassidy because of his vote.
“Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty,” Cassidy said on Twitter Saturday night.
“This post-presidency impeachment proceeding was an unconstitutional theft of time and energy that did absolutely nothing to unify or help the American people,” PAGOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas said in a statement. “I share the disappointment of many of our grassroots leaders and volunteers over Senator Toomey’s vote today. The vote to acquit was the constitutionally correct outcome.”
Toomey announced in October that he would not seek re-election in 2022.
While some of the other Republican senators’ votes were expected, Burr’s came as a surprise. Like Toomey, Burr has said he will not seek re-election in 2022.
“North Carolina Republicans sent Senator Burr to the United States Senate to uphold the Constitution and his vote today to convict in a trial that he declared unconstitutional is shocking and disappointing,” NCGOP Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., is joined by his wife Melissa Sasse, as he take the oath of office from Vice President Mike Pence during a reenactment ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021.
Sasse has faced previous criticism from Republicans in his home state due to his criticism of Trump. Republican groups in at least three Nebraska counties have voted to censure Sasse, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The state Republican central committee is expected to consider at least eight separate resolutions to censure him when it meets next month.
“You are welcome to censure me again,” Sasse said in a video earlier this month, “but let’s be clear about why this is happening. It’s because I still believe, as you used to, that politics isn’t about the weird worship of one dude.”