Tuesday night’s House vote on a procedural motion to kill the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have gone a different way had it not been for 11 Democrats missing the vote — with several saying a traffic incident near the Capitol kept them from casting their votes.
The GOP referred Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee where it will wither and die at the end of the 119th Congress on Jan. 3, with a vote of 211-204.
While seven Republicans skipped the vote, Democrats could have prevailed had they all cast a vote in the 29 minutes that the vote, scheduled for 15 minutes, was held open. Had all 11 Democrats voted with the rest of their punctual colleagues in the chamber where Republicans enjoy a two-vote majority, the motion could have been defeated 215-211 — and therefore the impeachment resolution would have advanced.
Democratic Reps. Julia Brownley, Lou Correa, Laura Gillen, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Nancy Pelosi, Brittany Pettersen, Melanie Stansbury, Haley Stevens, Marilyn Strickland and Frederica Wilson all failed to show up in time to cast their no votes on referring the impeachment resolution to committee. Only Correa announced his absence in advance, citing a medical procedure that him from traveling to Washington to vote on Tuesday.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, November 11, 2026.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi returned to San Francisco yesterday to join and honor local veterans at Swords to Plowshares’ 30th Annual Veterans Day Celebration, an important and longstanding district tradition she regularly attends and marked for the last time as a Member of Congress,” Pelosi spokesman Ian Krager told ABC News. “She supports impeaching Secretary Hegseth and would have voted ‘No’ on the motion to refer.”
Other Democrats largely blamed their absence on Washington traffic — despite knowing for at least 18 hours that the House had scheduled a 5:30 p.m. vote series on Tuesday night.
ABC News has reached out to U.S. Capitol Police about a traffic incident that several Democratic lawmakers claimed held them up, but has not yet heard back.
“Like other Members of Congress, Rep. Stansbury was blocked from entering the Capitol to vote due a traffic incident and a police escort of a bus during the vote,” her office explained in a social media post. “When she reached the chamber the vote had just gaveled out. She immediately filed a report of her vote of ‘NO’ to the motion meant to kill the impeachment articles and refer them to the Judiciary Committee, as documented in the Congressional Record.”
Congressional record additions don’t impact the result or tally of the vote.
Gillen said that she was also caught in the traffic delay.
“Like Rep. Stansbury, I was stuck behind the same police escort blocking the Capitol when Republicans closed the vote,” Gillen wrote in a social media post. “I would have voted no and believe strongly that Pete Hegseth should be impeached.”
Jackson said in a social media post that the traffic incident “caused a delay that resulted in the vote closing before I, along with other Members, could reach the chamber,” adding that he has since entered his intent to case a “no” vote into the congressional record.
Pettersen wrote in a social media post that she was “denied the ability to vote,” but didn’t elaborate.
“I was driving the Congresswoman and was forced to wait for a motorcade to pass by Capitol Police, causing the Congresswoman to miss the vote by 1 minute,” Andrew Noh, Strickland’s chief of staff, told ABC. “She would have voted against the motion to refer.”
After closing the vote on the motion to refer, the House proceeded next to a vote. By then, six more Democrats — Brownley, Gillen, Jackson, Pettersen, Stansbury and Strickland — arrived in the chamber, breaking through the traffic jam.
Had they been there for the vote on the motion to refer, their additional six votes still would have still fallen short of defeating it — putting the prospective tally at 211-210. Horsford, Stevens, and Wilson were still inexplicably missing.
Horsford later arrived in the chamber for the following vote.
Reps. Brownley, Horsford, Stevens and Wilson have not yet responded to ABC News with an explanation of their missed vote.
Wilson did not vote on Monday or Tuesday and has faced scrutiny for missing extended periods of legislative business due to health challenges. Wilson was at the Capitol for votes on Wednesday.
Outgoing Rep. Stevens, who lost her primary for U.S. Senate, has lost most of her staff and the support of many Democratic colleagues after endorsing Michigan Republican Mike Rogers for Senate over Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed. She cast two votes on Monday evening before skipping all three votes on Tuesday. Stevens also returned for votes on Wednesday.
Democrats may pursue impeachment of Hegseth again — once they take control of the chamber in January.
