Former GOP Rep. Tom Rice helped impeach Trump — but won't vote for Harris

Former Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said he will vote for neither Trump nor Vice President Harris for president, declining to join the three other pro-impeachment Republicans who have endorsed the Democratic nominee.

His stance reflects the difficulty that Harris has in winning over the anti-Trump Republicans as her campaign angles for every possible undecided voter in an incredibly close race.

“Donald Trump is a proven liar and a fraud and thief and a sexual predator. Everyone now knows that,” Rice told The Hill. “But the thing that absolutely disqualifies him from office is his disregard for the constitution … The idea that we would elect someone who has proven he will crumple it up and throw it in the trash for his own advantage is unimaginable to me.”

Yet Rice, who spent a decade in Congress before a Trump-backed primary challenge from Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) forced him out, said that he cannot support Harris.

"I’m not going to endorse Harris. She's an anathema to me. I'm a conservative Republican. There's no way in hell I can endorse her,” Rice told The Hill of Harris.

Rice said he would vote for someone for president rather than not voting at all, but has not yet decided for whom he will vote.

“But it’s not going to be one of them,” Rice said of Trump and Harris.

Three of the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have endorsed Harris, with former Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) announcing Thursday he would vote for her. Former Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) previously endorsed Harris, and have been campaigning for her.

Cheney, Kinzinger, and the Harris campaign hope to convince Republican and Republican-leaning voters that issues relating to respect for democracy, the constitution, and Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, are important enough to overlook policy and ideological differences they may have with Harris.

But Rice’s position shows that supporting Harris might be a step to far, even for Republicans who loathe Trump.

Not all the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have completely shunned him. Former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) had said when he was running for Senate that he would vote for Trump in 2024 if he was the alternative to President Biden, despite his vote to impeach Trump. Meijer ended his Senate campaign before the primary election.

Rice also expressed his disappointment in Republicans for failing to impeach Trump.

“I am so deeply disappointed in members of Congress and particularly the leadership for failing to hold him accountable. They knew their duty to protect the constitution. And they violated their oath. Not just Trump, but they themselves are disqualified from office,” Rice said.

“I am particularly disappointed in [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell,” Rice continued. “He is a brilliant man. He knew very well the gravity of the moment. But in the days following January 6, he made a cold political decision that it was more important to try and get more republicans in the senate than it was to do their duty and hold Trump accountable. One word from him and it would have been done. We would not be in this precarious position.”

Rice also had sharp words for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was House minority leader on Jan. 6.

“Kevin McCarthy was a guy who was not very bright and not very strong. He had no principles whatsoever, if those and he should never have been speaker of the House. And I told him that. I told him that to his face,” Rice said.

“Kevin McCarthy on January 6 [was] begging Trump on the phone to call off the dogs,” Rice said. “And Trump laughed at him. And then he goes down there two weeks later and signs up at Mar-a-Lago … I was furious about that"

Only two of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump remain in Congress. Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), who is running for reelection in a competitive district, has declined to reveal who he is voting for at the top of the ticket, saying in a debate this month that he will “not get involved in the presidential race.”

And Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), who will face a Trump-backed Republican on the general election ballot, told local news outlet KEPR News of Trump in August: “I will do all I can to ensure he's as successful as possible."