# Pete Hegseth impeachment effort dies in the House as absent Democrats couldn’t beat the traffic

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/pete-hegseth-impeachment-effort-dies-in-the-house-as-absent-democrats-couldnt-beat-the-traffic/
- Published: 2026-11-13T20:13:17+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T21:52:39+00:00
- Original publisher: Fox News (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pete-hegseth-impeachment-effort-dies-house-absent-democrats-couldnt-beat-traffic
- Topics: World

## Key points

- The House sent Hegseth’s impeachment articles to committee.
- The vote was 211-204 after a brief tie.
- Eleven absent Democrats may have affected the outcome.

## Summary

The House voted 211-204 to send articles seeking Pete Hegseth’s impeachment to the Judiciary Committee, effectively ending the effort led by Representative Thomas Massie. Republicans blocked a direct vote on impeachment, and the narrow result meant that 11 absent Democrats may have helped prevent a vote that could have passed.

The vote was initially tied at 204-204, which would have failed and triggered a vote on impeachment, but several Republicans arrived before it closed. The article says four switched votes could have produced impeachment by 208-207; it estimates that eight of the absent Democrats would have made the result 212-211. Some Democrats blamed traffic and a police motorcade, while critics argued that lawmakers could have found a way to reach the Capitol.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.