COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina Republicans on Saturday issued a formal censure to U.S. Rep. Tom Rice to show disapproval over his vote in support of the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
Rice was among 10 GOP representatives who joined Democrats on Jan. 13 in voting to impeach Trump for his role in the violence a week earlier at the U.S. Capitol. A Senate trial is expected in February.
A day after his vote, Rice – who represents South Carolina’s 7th District, an area that voted heavily for Trump – told The Associated Press “it hurts my heart” to have gone against the president, but he decided to back impeachment after seeing what he characterized as Trump’s inaction during the Capitol Hill riot.
State party-level censures aren’t common in South Carolina. The GOP in 2009 issued one to then-Gov. Mark Sanford after he fled the state for five days to visit a lover in Argentina. In 2009 and 2010, several county-level Republican parties censured U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for his willingness to work on bipartisan deals, with one county deriding Graham’s “condescending attitude” to the party’s grassroots organizers.
The censure is a symbolic expression of disapproval that some warn could have electoral consequences for Rice, who has represented the 7th District since its creation in 2012. Long a reliable backer of Trump’s policies, Rice campaigned with the president and, according to FiveThirtyEight, voted 94% of the time in favor of Trump-backed legislation – the highest percentage among South Carolina’s current delegation.