South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace’s resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) failed on Wednesday, after a handful of Republicans grew a spine and joined Democrats to squash the ridiculous punishment effort.
The House voted to table, congressional speak for kill, Mace’s resolution by a vote of 214 to 213, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting to quash the measure.
Mace introduced the censure resolution—which would not only have censured Omar but also would have kicked her off of her House committees—in an effort to punish the Minnesota Democrat for comments she made following the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Omar said in a Zeteo interview that Kirk’s murder was horrific, but that his death doesn’t erase the fact that he made bigoted comments in his life.
“There are a lot of people who are out there talking about him [Kirk] just wanting to have a civil debate. These people are full of shit, and it’s important for us to call them out while we feel anger and sadness,” Omar said.
Since then, Mace has been on a vile and unhinged social media tirade against Omar—spewing racist bile about Omar and even demanding that she be “deported back to Somalia.”
After Mace’s censure resolution failed, she fired off another lie-filled, racist tirade against Omar on X.
“Ilhan Omar mocked the cold-blooded assassination of an innocent American husband and father. She’s supported ISIS. She’s supported the Muslim Brotherhood. She’s incited political violence. And tonight, Congress protected her,” Mace wrote.
The four Republicans who voted to table the censure resolution were Nebraska’s Mike Flood, Oregon’s Jeff Hurd, California’s Tom McClintock, and Florida’s Cory Mills.
McClintock explained his no vote, writing in a post on X that while he viewed Omar’s comments as “vile and contemptible,” they were “protected by our First Amendment.”
“Censure is formal punishment by the House and we have already gone too far down this road. Omar’s comments were not made in the House and even if they were, they broke no House rules,” McClintock said, a reference to the multiple censure resolutions the House has passed or attempted to pass in recent years. “A free society depends on tolerating ALL speech—even hateful speech—confident that the best way to sort good from evil is to put the two side by side and trust the people to know the difference. Congress exists for this purpose. For this reason, I voted to table the censure resolution.”
Mills, however, voted against the resolution for self-preservation.
Mills was facing his own censure resolution over allegations that he committed domestic violence and sexual assault. Democrats had made a deal with Mills that if he helped tank the Omar resolution, they’d drop their own censure effort against him.
“Sometimes the strategy works,” Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz told Axios.
Emily Singer
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