Which representatives voted for and against the 2019 first impeachment of Donald Trump and what were the vote tallies?
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Executive summary
The House of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump on December 18, 2019, approving two articles: abuse of power (230–197, with 1 present) and obstruction of Congress (229–198, with 1 present) [1] [2]. The votes fell almost entirely along party lines; most House Democrats supported the articles while most Republicans opposed them [3] [4].
1. A nearly party-line verdict — the raw tallies
The abuse-of-power article passed 230 to 197 with one member voting “present,” and the obstruction-of-Congress article passed 229 to 198 with one “present” [1] [2]. These totals reflect a House with four vacancies at the time; the outcome was decisive enough in the House to become only the third presidential impeachment in U.S. history [1] [5].
2. Who crossed party lines — a small list with outsized attention
The roll calls were overwhelmingly partisan. Only a tiny number of Democrats opposed one or both articles: Representatives Jared Golden (Maine), Collin Peterson (Minnesota) and Jeff Van Drew (New Jersey) stood out among Democrats for voting “no” on one or both articles [6]. On the Republican side, the coverage and sources supplied with this briefing do not list any House Republicans who voted for either article in the December 18, 2019, impeachments; available sources do not mention a GOP vote in the House on those two articles [3] [4].
3. Official record and granular vote lists
The Clerk of the House maintains the official roll-call records for the votes; the recorded vote files document each member’s vote for the impeachment resolution that passed on December 18, 2019 [7]. For reporters and researchers seeking the line-by-line “yea,” “nay,” and “present” annotations, the Clerk’s recorded-vote XML and the interactive maps compiled by outlets like Politico and the New York Times provide the full breakdowns [7] [8] [6].
4. Context: why the votes fell the way they did
The impeachment inquiry centered on allegations that the president solicited Ukrainian assistance to investigate an electoral rival and then obstructed congressional oversight; leaders of the Democratic majority argued that these actions amounted to abuse of power and obstruction, which the House found sufficient to impeach [3] [4]. Republicans framed the proceedings as a partisan exercise and uniformly opposed conviction in the House, arguing the evidence did not meet the threshold for removing a president [4].
5. What happened after the House — the Senate trial and acquittal
Following the House votes, the matter proceeded to a Senate trial. The Senate later acquitted President Trump; the Senate vote counts and decisions are documented in congressional records and on Congress.gov [9]. Ballotpedia and major outlets summarize that the Senate votes did not reach the two‑thirds majority required for conviction [3] [9].
6. Reporting differences and useful primary sources
Contemporary reporting from The Guardian, AP, Politico, Business Insider and the New York Times all converge on the same tallies but differ in their presentation and supplementary lists of individual votes; for the authoritative line-by-line record, researchers should consult the Clerk of the House roll-call file and the House’s official entries [7] [8] [6] [2]. Newsweek and other outlets later covered related, subsequent impeachment efforts and cross‑party votes in other contexts; those stories are distinct from the December 18, 2019, House actions [10].
Limitations and notes on sources: the sources supplied here report aggregate tallies and identify a few cross‑party votes, but not every single representative by name in this briefing; for a complete list of how each of the 435 members voted (including “present” and not‑voting), consult the Clerk’s official roll‑call [7] and the NYT interactive vote tracker [6].