Reporter's Notebook: How midterms may change the House impeachment equation for Hegseth
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., plans to reintroduce articles of impeachment for Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth next week. The chances are increasingly high that the House could in fact impeach Hegseth.
Why?
Massie tried to impeach Hegseth before the midterms. But the House adjourned a day early in September, nixing Massie’s effort. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., condemned the effort by Massie. But insisted that he didn’t send members home early because of fear that the House had the votes to impeach Hegseth.
So Massie’s articles of impeachment expired. But he will reintroduce them next week. Under the rules, the House must consider them within two days.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., leaves the U.S. Capitol after the last votes of the week on Thursday, June 25, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
It’s possible the House could move to table the articles, or send them to committee, euthanizing the effort. But a growing number of House Republicans have grumbled about Hegseth. Any effort to dismiss the articles in the House might not work.
It’s about the math.
All Democrats are likely to vote to impeach. There are some Republicans who have said privately they’d like to impeach. Now, after the midterms, you have more Republicans hoping to build distance between themselves and President Trump. Moreover, the war in Iran contributed directly to the GOP’s thumping. So even more Republicans may be willing to impeach. Finally, the GOP may have attendance problems. Members who lost — or were shocked that they lost — might not show up. In other words, there may be more Democrats in the House next week than Republicans.
Don’t forget that some Republicans are now looking for a scapegoat after the election.
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U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2026 in Quantico, Virginia. Secretary Hegseth delivered his State of the Force address to junior officers, enlisted leaders, and special guests including Anduril Industries co-founder Palmer Luckey. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A simple majority is necessary to impeach.
Then the House would send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Under Senate rules of impeachment, the Senate must at least receive and consider the articles. But it could move quickly to dismiss. That’s what happened when the Senate considered articles of impeachment for former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a few years ago. The bona fide "trial" part of the process never happened where the Senate heard arguments, listened to witnesses and took evidence.
It takes a simple majority to dismiss such articles. Again, this could happen under a Republican-controlled Senate. But how might outgoing Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., vote?
That’s to say nothing of Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, John Curtis, R-Alaska, Todd Young ,R-Ind., and others.
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A split image of President Trump, Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas (Eddie Seal/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc;)
It takes a two-thirds vote to convict and remove in a Senate impeachment trial.
In addition, unlikely legislation, articles of impeachment carry over into the new Congress. Would a new Democratically-controlled Senate want to get bogged down in an impeachment trial from the start? Especially when new Democrats want to vote on affordability and health care?
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Or, would a Democratic Senate embrace the idea of a full-blown impeachment trial for Hegseth – especially since the execution of the war in Iran seems to be one of the main reasons for this week’s electoral shellacking?
Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
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