How would impeachment of President Trump affect politics in Mississippi in 2020?

Today, House Democrats announced they will file two specific articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The articles come from an investigation done by the House into President Trump’s relationship with Ukraine. The announcement of an inquiry was announced in September by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi after a whistleblower complaint raising questions into Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

According to CNBC the Judiciary’s ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., said he expects Democrats will pass the articles of impeachment before Christmas.

What about Mississippi?

With Trump’s immense popularity in this state, will the impeachment, which is likely going to fall completely on partisan lines, backfire against Democrats for the 2020 election cycle in Mississippi?

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said after Robert Mueller spoke that “I support impeachment.” That statement came on June 4, 2019, 7 weeks before the Ukraine call upon which impeachment has been predicated.

“The special counsel did not give any indication that the President is innocent,” Congressman Bennie Thompson said in a statement. “Therefore, it is time for Congress to perform its oversight duties.”

Other DC lawmakers do not share the same sentiments. Running in 2020 to maintain her seat in the Senate, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith says the President is obligated to serve the people not politicians.

“The President doesn’t serve at the pleasure of Congress. He serves at the pleasure of the people. Democrats need to get that straight because the sham Articles of Impeachment they rolled out today fail to recognize this,” said current U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Her challenger in the 2020 election, Democrat Mike Espy, was asked by Y’all Politics if he would support the removal of the president or not and responded with a press release focused more on how he sees Hyde-Smith siding on the situation instead.

“All members of Congress took a sacred oath to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law in this country. As impeachment heads towards a trial in the Senate and all Senators become jurors, I believe that no responsible juror would announce a verdict before the trial even begins – unless you’re Cindy Hyde-Smith,” said Mike Espy. “If I were sitting in the Senate in January 2020, I would sit, listen, reflect on the facts and evidence, and then I would make the best choice for the nation and for my state of Mississippi. My challenge to Senator Hyde-Smith and my question to the people of Mississippi: if you have a Senator who only blindly follows party bosses in Washington, then does Mississippi really have a Senator?  As your Senator, no one but the people of Mississippi could ever tell me what to think, what to say, and how to vote.”

Senator Roger Wicker said the whole process has been politically motivated. “The Democrats have been determined to impeach President Trump since he took office. Their process has been politically motivated and unfair from the beginning. I have seen nothing that warrants removing a duly-elected President from office.”

With no evidence of wrongdoing, Democrats have brought Articles of Impeachment against President Trump. I will vote no against the Articles of Impeachment and the Democrats’ attempt to silence over 700,000 Mississippians who voted for our president.

— Congressman Michael Guest (@RepMichaelGuest) December 10, 2019

“The articles of impeachment presented today remain baseless. If anyone should be charged with abuse of power we should start with Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi. There is no cause or justification for impeaching our President. Whatever way you spin it, there’s no quid pro quo, no bribery, and no extortion. The root of the Democrats’ argument is dying and the American people should see this inquiry for what it truly is, a partisan sham,” said Congressman Steven Palazzo.

“The Democrats’ manufactured Articles of Impeachment against the President is just a partisan sham about preventing President Trump from winning the 2020 election,” said Congressman Trent Kelly.