MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrat Ron Kind was the only member of Wisconsin’s U.S. House delegation who refused to say whether he would vote Wednesday to impeach Republican President Donald Trump.
Kind, from La Crosse, represents a western Wisconsin district that Trump won in 2016 by 4 points. Trump won the state by less than a point. Kind has been tight-lipped on impeachment after he supported the House inquiry into Trump. His office has not responded to repeated inquiries over the past two weeks about how he intends to vote.
Kind is the only member of Congress who voted to authorize the House investigation of both Trump and then-President Bill Clinton in 1998. Kind voted against impeachment of Clinton. Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, the only other current member of Wisconsin’s delegation in Congress at the time, voted to impeach.
Wisconsin’s two other Democrats, Rep. Mark Pocan, of Black Earth, and Rep. Gwen Moore, of Milwaukee, have been outspoken critics of Trump and said they intend to vote to impeach. Unlike Kind, they both represent districts that are heavily Democratic.
Republicans Sensenbrenner, Bryan Steil, Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher all planned to vote against impeachment. Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, which covers most of northern and western Wisconsin, is vacant after Republican Rep. Sean Duffy stepped down in September. Duffy was a strong Trump supporter.
According to a tally compiled by The Associated Press, Trump was on track to be formally charged by a House majority. No Republicans were expected to vote for impeachment as the president’s party stands firmly with Trump, and the Senate, where the GOP has the majority, is expected to acquit him in a trial next year.
While Kind has not said which way he will vote, was supportive of the inquiry and has been publicly critical of Trump’s conduct that led to the impeachment investigation.
