Mikie Sherill: Impeachment Inquiry a '1776 Kind of Fight'

Freshman swing district Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill on Monday compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) impeachment inquiry to a “1776 kind of fight.”

Rep. Sherrill held a town hall in Whippany, New Jersey, in which she spent much of her time explaining away her support for the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

In an interview with Politico, Sherill compared it to America’s revolutionary fight for independence.

Politico wrote Rep. Sherrill told the reporter “tearfully in her office on Capitol Hill” the impeachment inquiry was a “1776 kind of fight.” She continued by saying that the battle was potentially for the continued existence of the American democracy.

New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, which Sherrill represents, serves as one of the 31 congressional districts President Donald Trump won during the 2016 presidential election, and Republicans hope to flip during the 2020 congressional elections. Republicans have to retake 19 congressional seats so that they could regain the House majority.

Rep. Sherrill told her audience in Whippany she did not run to impeach the president, but rather to work on health care, taxes, and infrastructure.

She explained:

So, as most of you know here, I did not run for office to impeach the president. I ran on taxes and health care and infrastructure. However, as somebody who spent her life working on issues of national security, as someone who spent her life working with foreign governments and our allies across the world, the president crossed a line for me when it seemed as if he had withheld critical military funding from a security partner because he wanted them to investigate an opponent of his in an election.

Constituents criticized Rep. Sherrill for focusing on the impeachment inquiry instead of improving the country.

“We sent you to Washington to get work done, for us and for our country, and it appears that for the last couple years all that has been going on is investigations,” one New Jersey resident said.

Sherill’s comments follow as House Majority Forward, a Democrat group associated House Speaker Pelosi, released a report on voters other New Jersey swing districts. The report found that many white college-educated and non-college educated voters in New Jersey’s second and third congressional districts continue to support President Trump as well as his America First policies on immigration, borders, and trade.

“Trump has some standing with many of these voters,” the report contended.