House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will transmit impeachment articles to the Senate next week. (Screen snip, YouTube)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has apparently caved to demands that she turn over the articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate, telling reporters she will transmit those documents to the Senate “next week,” according to the Washington Times.
Pelosi has been under intense pressure from Senate Republicans and some members of her own party to transmit the impeachment articles after essentially trying to leverage some concessions from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which he was under no legal obligation to allow, and she had no authority to expect.
Democrats started talking about impeachment almost from the moment Donald Trump was confirmed the winner in the 2016 election. In his three years so far in office, Trump has fulfilled an important campaign promise by filling some 180 vacancies on the federal court with conservatives, including two spots on the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the president has created some of his own troubles with his oft-combative tweets while his supporters argue he has pushed an agenda resulting in a stronger economy, more jobs, and an “America First” approach to world affairs. It is widely expected the Senate will make quick work of the impeachment and find the president not guilty of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
How this plays out in the 2020 election cycle is hard to predict, but as noted by USA Today, Pelosi is now saying “she wanted to learn more about how the Senate would conduct its trial before naming the lawmakers to serve as managers” during the proceeding.
While that drama plays out in Washington, D.C., out in “the other” Washington, Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee may be in a bit of trouble as he pursues a third term after his failed presidential campaign that never really got off first base.
According to a new Elway Poll, Inslee gets positive ratings from 40 percent of voters but 57 percent negative. More survey participants also said they had a more negative opinion (22%) of the governor than a more positive (17%) as a result of his presidential campaign, which largely focused on climate change. Fifty-two percent said their opinion of Inslee had remained unchanged.
It’s important to note that Elway got 29 percent of its responses from King County, an Inslee/Democrat stronghold, 50 percent from the rest of Western Washington and 20 percent from Eastern Washington, where the governor is not so popular.
That breakdown may explain why Inslee would get 46 percent of the vote if an election were held today, while his declared challengers would split the vote, and 34 percent of voters aren’t sure who they would support.
Bad news for Republicans however, is that if people had t register as one party or another to vote in Washington state, 41 percent would register as Democrats, 32 percent as independent and 24 percent as Republicans. And more people would vote for Democrats (52 %) than Republicans (32%), and 13 percent offered no opinion or preference.
The data suggests Inslee may have troubles outside of King County but he is still popular in King County and Western Washington, where the bulk of votes come from in the state in any given election. However, Evergreen State beleaguered gun owners are visibly becoming more involved in this year’s election cycle. They are tired of one-party rule in the governor’s office and the Legislature, and my even re-submit their initiative to repeal gun control Initiative 1639 after initially falling short of an effort to collect 300,000 signatures in just under two months. A new effort would give them more than twice as much time for signature gathering.
The Elway Poll also asked about legislative priorities. Topping the list is Social Services, while Gun Control is far down the scale.
