Rep. Laura Gillen was at Democratic women's event before missed Hegseth impeachment vote

WASHINGTON — In a vote that could have led to only the third impeachment in U.S. history of a presidential cabinet secretary, Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) wasn't there.

Her office told Newsday on Wednesday that she was returning from a reception for House Democratic women about a mile away, when she got stuck in traffic before the Tuesday evening vote.

President Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth survived the ouster effort, with the House falling short of the votes needed to proceed with an impeachment vote. Instead, the issue was tabled after the 211-204 vote.

Had Gillen and seven of the 10 other Democrats who missed that vote instead appeared and voted with the majority of their party, the GOP-effort to table the vote would have failed, setting in motion a vote this week to impeach Hegseth on charges he conducted unauthorized military operations. Seven Republicans also missed the vote, meaning Democrats had an opening to defeat the GOP measure if all had been in attendance.

The 5:30 p.m. vote time had been announced earlier in the day to all House members — and more than 400 of them did show up to vote. The vote started a few minutes late, and Republicans allowed the floor to stay open several minutes after the 15-minute voting clock ran out in the chamber. Republicans gaveled out the vote at 6:02 p.m.

Any Hegseth impeachment by the House likely would have died in the still-Republican-led Senate. But why Gillen and the other 10 House Democrats did not make it to the House floor has led to online criticism.

Gillen, in a pair of social media posts on X and Facebook uploaded four hours after the vote, said she had been stuck behind a police escort blocking access to the Capitol, and would have "voted no and believe strongly that Pete Hegseth should be impeached." She later filed a notice to the Congressional Record reflecting she would have voted no to table the impeachment vote, but that notice does not apply to the vote count.

Her social media posts drew a torrent of criticism online, questioning why she did not prioritize being at the Capitol building long before the evening vote.

"As your constituent and a DC native, I know well there is literally always traffic around the Capitol. Why would you cut your arrival time so close?" wrote one commenter who said they were from Oceanside.

"Every day Americans can't miss work because of traffic. You need to hold yourself to the same standard," wrote another user on X.

Gillen's office did not make her available for an interview.

Her congressional spokesman, Eric Jones, said in a phone interview he couldn’t address the specific complaints, but "the point that she was meant to be there and cast her vote in favor of progressing impeachment is still true, and she stands by that."

State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who also heads the Nassau Democratic Committee, when asked about the missed vote, told Newsday: "We have all been stuck in traffic and I think before people get all exercised, we cut her some slack."

The reception Gillen attended Tuesday afternoon was hosted by Elect Democratic Women (EDW), a political action committee led by House Democratic women. The group previously touted Gillen’s recent election victory in a news release and gave $10,000 to her congressional campaign in 2025, according to campaign finance reports. The reception was scheduled from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., according to an invitation obtained by the independent news outlet Drop Site. The venue, according to Google Maps, is about an 8- to 16-minute drive from the House chamber, depending on traffic.

Retiring Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.) told USA Today she was among the women at the EDW event who were caught in traffic, and she got out of her car and started running but still missed the vote. Reps. Melanie Stansbury, (D-N.M.), who sits on the EDW board of directors, Marilyn Strickland (D- Washington) and Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) have all said they were stuck in traffic.

Stansbury, in a video posted to X on Wednesday, apologized at length for missing the vote. "There is no one who is more disappointed in myself, than me that I was not here that the moment that gavel dropped."

Other Democrats not present for the vote include former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said she was receiving an award in her San Francisco district; Lou Correa, who previously said he was undergoing a medical procedure in his California district; and Nevada’s Steven Horsford, who said he was dealing with a "personal emergency" on Tuesday. Outgoing Reps. Haley Stevens of Michigan and Frederica Wilson of Florida have not indicated why they missed the vote.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) said in an online statement he missed the vote due to traffic, but on Wednesday he was confronted by a TMZ reporter who observed Jackson on the steps of Capitol filming a social media post Tuesday mere minutes before the vote closed. Asked why he would blame traffic if he was outside of the House chamber with time to spare, Jackson told the reporter: "I wish I could answer you in any more detail."