David Valadao cast one of the rarest votes in modern Congress, and five years later it may have cost him his seat.
Quick Take
- Valadao was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot.
- He was the only California Republican to do so, breaking with his entire state delegation.
- His written statement called Trump’s rhetoric “un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense.”
- He also criticized the impeachment process itself as “a rushed political stunt” lacking due process.
- Reporting shows Valadao lost his California 22nd District reelection bid in the 2026 midterms.
The Vote That Set Valadao Apart From Every Other California Republican
On January 13, 2021, the House voted on a single article of impeachment against President Trump tied to the Capitol attack. The official House Clerk record shows Valadao voted yes, joining nine other Republicans and every voting Democrat to approve House Resolution 24 by a 232-197 margin. Contemporaneous reporting noted he stood alone among California’s Republican House members in casting that vote.
Rep. David Valadao, a Republican who voted for Trump's impeachment, loses reelection in California's 22nd District, CBS News projects. https://t.co/EwWftRBz30
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 4, 2026
Valadao did not hide behind procedure or silence. He released a written statement the same day explaining exactly why he voted the way he did, putting his name and his reasoning on the public record immediately.
What Valadao Actually Said About Trump’s Conduct
Valadao’s statement left little room for interpretation. He wrote that Trump “was, without question, a driving force in the catastrophic events that took place on January 6” and called the president’s rhetoric “un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense”. In a local television interview that same day, he said he had watched video of the Capitol attack and called the vote the hardest decision of his life.
He also told reporters he expected backlash from his own party for the vote. That expectation proved accurate. Being one of just 10 House Republicans to break ranks made Valadao an instant target for criticism from Trump allies back home in California’s Central Valley, a region Trump carried in past elections.
A Vote He Defended While Also Criticizing the Process
Valadao’s position was not a simple partisan defection. In the same statement announcing his vote, he criticized the speed of the impeachment proceedings themselves, calling it “a rushed political stunt” and saying he wished the House had taken more time for hearings and due process. That combination, voting yes while objecting to how the vote came together, reflects a lawmaker trying to separate his judgment of Trump’s conduct from his judgment of the House’s procedure.
That nuance often got lost in coverage. Most headlines simply noted Valadao was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach, flattening a more complicated position into a single data point about party loyalty. Readers deserve to know both halves of what he actually said, not just the vote tally.
The Political Cost That Followed Years Later
Impeachment votes by a president’s own party rarely come without consequences, and Valadao’s was no exception. Academic research on the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump found that most faced retirement, primary defeat, or sustained pressure from party leadership and voters in the years that followed. Only a handful managed to hold their seats through multiple election cycles.
CBS News reported that Valadao ultimately lost his reelection bid in California’s 22nd District during the 2026 midterms, falling to Democrat Randy Villegas. The race closed out a long run in which Valadao had survived several competitive cycles despite his impeachment vote, making this defeat a notable bookend to the choice he made back in January 2021.
Conservative voters have every right to weigh a lawmaker’s vote against a sitting president from their own party as a serious breach of trust, especially one tied to such a consequential moment in the country’s history. Valadao made his reasoning public and stood by it under pressure, which deserves acknowledgment even from those who disagreed with his conclusion. Whether that vote was the deciding factor in his eventual defeat is a judgment voters in his district ultimately made for themselves at the ballot box.
Sources:
cbsnews.com, valadao.house.gov, pbs.org, abc7.com, clerk.house.gov
