The House on Wednesday stopped another censure attempt in its tracks, narrowly voting to table a resolution aimed at Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Four Republicans helped Democrats pull off the procedural move. Some hope it could be enough to defuse a partisan tit-for-tat building after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
But the episode highlighted deep divides as Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., tried to force a vote on censuring the Minnesota Democrat and kicking her off committees.
In a series of posts and media appearances Wednesday, Mace suggested Omar should be deported to Somalia, where she was born.
“Ilhan Omar should be stripped of her seat and her citizenship,” Mace posted.
“Would love to see you get the help you need next. You belong in rehab, not Congress,” Omar responded to one of Mace’s posts.
The censure push was part of a broader crackdown on Democrats and leftists online who criticized Kirk after his death.
Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested her office would go after “hate speech,” which is broadly protected by the First Amendment, and then walked back the claim amid criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.
Trump, meanwhile, said during an address from the Oval Office that we “will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.” And a State Department official urged people to report individuals who “glorify violence and hatred.”
Workers across the country have lost their jobs for posts they’ve made in the wake of Kirk’s killing. And it comes as cross-party tensions are high in Congress, potentially setting up a series of symbolic votes to score political points and serve retribution.
Immediately after Mace went forward with her privileged resolution, Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, announced his own intent to try to force a vote on censuring Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., for a litany of unrelated alleged offenses.
Mills was one of the four Republicans who voted to table the Omar censure on Wednesday. The others were Mike Flood of Nebraska, Jeff Hurd of Colorado and Tom McClintock of California.
It’s not clear whether Democrats now plan to drop the censure attempt against Mills. A similar move against the Florida Republican fizzled out after the House tabled a censure resolution targeting Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J.
Meanwhile, Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, suggested in a post on X on Wednesday that the House should impeach Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel in response to Mace’s attempt to censure Omar. Veasey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he would proceed.
Omar is the first Somali American to serve in Congress and has been a frequent target of attacks from her Republican colleagues.
In 2024, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., attempted to censure Omar for a disputed statement she made to a group of Somali Americans. In 2023, Omar was removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee for comments she made about Israel that some perceived as antisemitic.
Mace’s censure resolution cited comments made during an appearance on Zeteo, a Substack run by liberal broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, as well as a series of reposts on X. During her interview with Hasan, Omar is repeatedly asked about Kirk and the Republican response to his killing.
“It was really mortifying to hear the news, to see the video. All I could think about was his wife, his children. That image is going to live forever,” Omar said. “My heart does break for those babies.”
Omar went on to list a series of statements made by Kirk — on things like gun control, the killing of George Floyd, making Juneteenth a federal holiday and his comments after the attack on Paul Pelosi — that she opposed. She also blamed Trump and other prominent Republicans, including Mace, for exacerbating feelings of anger and the desire for revenge that have percolated since his killing.
“While we sit there and try to talk about solutions, try to talk about the families, have a rational conversation, they want to point the finger,” Omar said. “Because to them they don’t really care about the life that is lost. It’s about who I can demonize, and that demonization is what leads to lives being taken.”
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