On Wednesday, the House Democratic caucus narrowly surpassed a key threshold in its efforts to impeach President Donald Trump, by accumulating 218 members of the House in favor of the impeachment inquiry, Daily Caller reports.
The moment came when Congresswoman Sharice Davids (R-Kan.) voiced her support for the inquiry. As it currently stands, 217 Democrats in the House support impeachment, along with the House’s sole independent member, former Republican Justin Amash (I-Mich.).
Despite this, impeachment still remains unlikely: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not confirmed whether or not an actual impeachment vote will ever be held, and as the Caller notes, many of the moderate Democrats in Congress – especially those who were elected last year in districts that voted for President Trump in 2016 – might not vote to impeach once the inquiry is fully carried out.
Even if impeachment managed to pass the House, Republicans in the Senate have vowed to shoot down any impeachment measures that reach the upper chamber. As a two-thirds vote is required by the Constitution for the Senate to convict a president and remove him from office, Democrats would need to flip at least 20 Republican senators.