UPDATE (12:25 p.m. PT) – Rep. Kurt Schrader on Thursday became the last Democrat in the Oregon congressional delegation to support an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Schrader said Trump’s pressure on the new Ukranian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to dig up dirt on Democratic rival Joe Biden was the last straw for him.
Related: From A Ukraine Phone Call To Calls For Impeachment
“The president seems to treat his office rather cavalierly and confuses official behavior with campaign behavior,” Schrader said in a telephone interview with OPB. “I would be in huge trouble if I made campaign [fund] raising inquiries or activities or asked people to do opposition research for me from my business phone here in Washington, D.C.”
Oregon’s other Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Peter DeFazio and Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden — had previously backed formal hearings that could lead to Trump’s impeachment in the House.
The state’s sole Republican lawmaker, Rep. Greg Walden, has not supported a move toward impeachment. He sent out a tweet Wednesday afternoon saying that the phone call "wasn't President Trump's finest moment." But he added that "from what I've seen so far it certainly doesn't rise to 'high crimes and misdemeanors'..."
I’ve now read the transcript of the phone conversation between President Trump and President Zelensky, and while it wasn’t President Trump’s finest moment, from what I’ve seen so far it certainly does not rise to ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’...
— Rep. Greg Walden (@repgregwalden) September 25, 2019
Schrader, who represents a district that stretches from the Portland area down the Willamette Valley and out to the coast, has long had the most conservative voting record of any of his Oregon Democratic colleagues. Trump lost the district by only 4 percentage points in 2016, and Schrader says he makes a point of trying to work across party lines.
The congressman from Canby had resisted early calls to open impeachment inquiries, although he had backed continued congressional probes into alleged wrongdoing in Trump's administration.
Related: Where Oregon's Congressional Delegation Stands On Trump Impeachment Inquiry
But Schrader said his opinion changed after he read the official account of the Trump-Zelensky call and also the report filed with intelligence authorities by an anonymous government whistleblower.
“I have to feel that at this point in time, an impeachment inquiry is really justified,” Schrader said, adding, “I’m sad that we’re brought to this point in time by the president himself."
Schrader acknowledged that even if the House were to impeach Trump, it’s doubtful that a two-thirds vote could be mustered in the Republican-controlled Senate to remove the president from office.
But he said that an impeachment inquiry that is “thoughtfully done” and “not a witch hunt,” could sway Republican opinion.
Schrader’s instinct to seek the middle ground in politics has become trickier since Trump came to office. Many Democratic activists in his district were unhappy that he voted against allowing Rep. Nancy Pelosi to reclaim the speakership after last November’s election. And he now faces a primary challenge from Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba, who is running to the left of Schrader.
In his interview with OPB, Schrader said he doesn’t know how the impeachment issue will play out for him politically.
“I would hope most people in my district would know that I’m a guy who tries to work hard on bipartisan issues and get stuff done,” he said.