South Carolina GOP votes to censure Rep. Rice over impeachment vote

The South Carolina Republican Party voted to censure Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) for his vote earlier this month to impeach former President Donald Trump in a rare rebuke of one of the party’s own lawmakers. 

The censure formally condemns Rice for his surprise vote to impeach Trump over his role in inciting the violent mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, which led to the deaths of several people.

The party noted that the resolution reprimanding Rice was started at the grassroots level in a county in his district and that the impeachment vote came as Trump was leaving office.

“Trying to impeach a president, with a week left in his term, is never legitimate and is nothing more than a political kick on the way out the door,” said Drew McKissick, the chairman of the South Carolina GOP. “Congressman Rice’s vote unfortunately played right into the Democrats’ game, and the people in his district, and ultimately our State Executive Committee, wanted him to know they wholeheartedly disagree with his decision.”

Today the SCGOP Executive Committee voted to formally censure Congressman Rice for his impeachment vote. See below for SCGOP Chairman @DrewMcKissick‘s full statement: pic.twitter.com/lNzDW80ljl

— South Carolina Republican Party (@SCGOP) January 30, 2021

A spokesperson for Rice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The censure resolution does not come with any tangible punishment, but the vote marks a reproach for a sitting lawmaker by his own party. The move also underscores the risks Republicans still take by going against the former president, who remains popular with the GOP base.

The South Carolina Republican Party last censured a Republican more than 10 years ago, when it voted to approve a similar resolution for then-Gov. Mark Sanford after he admitted traveling to Argentina to carry out an extramarital affair.

Rice is just the latest Republican to face this kind of blowback from his own party.

The Arizona Republican Party censured former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for criticizing Trump and Gov. Doug Ducey (R) for emergency restrictions he has implemented to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Ducey has also been critical of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. 

Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican, is facing broad blowback in Wyoming over her vote to impeach Trump, with House conservatives circulating a petition to remove her from her leadership post and some lawmakers openly backing a primary challenge to her in 2022.

Still, Rice’s vote to impeach Trump came as a shock to Republicans given that he had not been vocal in his criticism of Trump throughout his four-year presidency and supported Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He is now expected to face a primary challenge next year.