Three U.S. lawmakers from the state of Florida nearly caused another embarrassing loss for House Republicans as the lower chamber voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a tally of 214-213.
The three representatives in question – Representatives Brian Mast (R-FL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) – were not present for the vote.
Reps. Mast and Frankel had their flights from Palm Beach delayed by more than eight hours, forcing them to be absent.
Not only is Secretary Mayorkas horrible at his job, he is willfully refusing to do it.
Thankfully, despite mechanical failures on my flight, we still had enough votes to impeach him tonight. He has abandoned the trust of the American people, and he deserves to be impeached. pic.twitter.com/CxxskRQ6YO
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) February 14, 2024
“Not only is Secretary Mayorkas horrible at his job, he is willfully refusing to do it. Thankfully, despite mechanical failures on my flight, we still had enough votes to impeach him tonight. He has abandoned the trust of the American people, and he deserves to be impeached,” said Rep. Mast from the Palm Beach International Airport.
And the end of the video above, you can see Rep. Frankel walking by in Mast’s shot.
Frankel released a statement concerning her absence in Washington for the Mayorkas vote.
As frustrating as it was, it was impossible for me to make tonight’s vote. pic.twitter.com/KE315EDQPE
— Rep. Lois Frankel (@RepLoisFrankel) February 14, 2024
“House Republicans’ vote to impeach Secretary Mayorkas despite having no evidence of wrongdoing was a shameful political stunt that does nothing to fix our broken immigration system,” said Rep. Frankel. “Unfortunately, my flight from Palm Beach to Washington was severely delayed today. I waited at the airport for eight hours, which caused me, along with a Republican colleague on the same flight, to miss the vote. Had I been present, I would have voted no, as I did last week.”
Rep. Salazar mentioned to The Floridian previously that she would’ve voted to impeach Mayorkas.
Luckily for the right side of the aisle, Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) had to miss the vote due to testing positive for COVID-19.
She released a statement as well.
Had I been able to be on the House Floor tonight, I would have voted once again against the sham impeachment of @SecMayorkas. pic.twitter.com/1BThC3U2ep
— Judy Chu (@RepJudyChu) February 14, 2024
"Unfortunately, I recently tested positive for COVID-19 and am isolating in accordance with CDC guidelines. Today, I was unable to be on the Floor to vote once again against impeaching Secretary Mayorkas. As I stated last week when this was first put to the House: impeaching a Cabinet member over policy disagreements isn’t a solution to our broken immigration system,” said Rep. Chu. “This is an abuse of power by House Republicans, and they degrade the oath they took to the Constitution to score cheap political points with their extremist MAGA base. I hope to return in short order to the House to do the actual work of the American people: lower costs, protect freedom at home and abroad, and keep our communities safe."
Had one of the Democrats who missed the vote been able to show up, the measure would’ve failed for a second time.
Republicans dodged a bullet, to say the least.
