House Democrats in Swing Districts Are Torn Over Impeachment

Speaker Pelosi counsels patience, while also accusing President Trump of engaging in a ‘coverup’.

House Democrats in swing districts said they were torn over whether Congress should launch impeachment proceedings against President Trump, a decision that could play a central role in the 2020 election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Democratic leaders see pursuing impeachment as politically risky, and potentially endangering their House majority. In the recent midterms, Democrats won 41 seats previously held by Republicans. To keep their majority, they must win many of those districts again in 2020, and the Democrats in those competitive seats have differing stances on how far to go in investigating Mr. Trump.

“I honestly feel like we’re pretty split on that among the freshmen and even among the frontliners,” said Rep. Katie Hill (D., Calif.), referring to the Democrats holding seats in more conservative-leaning districts. Ms. Hill, who said she was “on the fence” on impeachment, said many fellow newly elected Democrats were weighing the need to conduct congressional oversight, and potentially an impeachment inquiry, against the desire of some more centrist voters to move on.

Ms. Hill won her southern California district in 2018, flipping a seat Republicans had held since 1993.

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