Republicans are betting the specter of a third House impeachment will motivate President Donald Trump’s most loyal voters to show up at the polls next year.
Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice, both times by a Democrat-led House, with the first in 2019 and the second in 2021. With Republicans in control of Washington, congressional leaders are making the case to voters that he would face more investigations, up to and including an impeachment inquiry, should they retake the House in 2026.
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“Democrats would vote to impeach [Trump] on their first day,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told the Shreveport Times earlier this month, a message echoed by House Republicans in campaign advertising.
Last week, the National Republican Congressional Committee released a video claiming one plank of Democrats‘ “Project 2026” agenda is to “impeach President Trump.”
“Make no mistake: if Democrats were to take back the House, their first order of business would be another sham impeachment of President Trump instead of helping working families,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella told the Washington Examiner. “They have no other message except for their rabid Trump Derangement Syndrome to distract from their radical policies.”
Trump was acquitted in both impeachment trials, with Democrats lacking the two-thirds votes needed to convict in the Senate, and a similar outcome is likely if they pursue what is perceived as political articles against the president.
But the issue has been kept alive by repeated efforts by the Democrats’ left flank to impeach Trump while in the minority this year.
The House voted 344 to 79, with 128 Democrats joining all Republicans who voted, to table an impeachment effort by Rep. Al Green (D-TX) in June. Green had alleged an abuse of power after Trump approved the bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) also planned for an impeachment vote, but pulled his articles following pressure from House Democratic leadership.
The GOP messaging comes as Republicans try to figure out how to boost turnout in an election cycle when many of their voters are expected to stay home. Congressional candidates lagged behind Trump’s performance in 2024, with his name on the ballot giving them coattails but not the same voting margins.
The additional challenge in 2026 will be motivating those same voters in a year when Democrats, buoyed by historical headwinds as the party out of power, are banking on an energized base.
Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based Republican strategist, pointed to GOP candidate Mike Rogers as he makes a second run for Senate. Rogers lost Michigan in 2024 by three-tenths of a point despite Trump carrying the state.
“Getting the 120,000 Trump voters who didn’t vote for you in 2024 to show up for you when Trump is not on the ballot, let alone the voters who voted for both you and Trump when he’s not on the ballot, is going to require a Herculean effort for Mike Rogers,” Lennox said.
There is political utility in impeachment for Democrats, at least for the firebrands in their party hoping to tap into the anger of rank-and-file voters. However, Democratic House leaders have shied away from new articles against Trump as they try to build a coalition that can win in swing districts nationwide.
“It would be idiocy in its highest form,” Sammy Kanter, the CEO of the Girl and the Gov podcast, told the Washington Examiner of using impeachment as a message for the midterm elections.
Despite the favorable political environment, Democrats face a difficult House map, with 40 seats rated competitive compared to the 29 marked competitive for the GOP. They need to net just three seats to seize control of the chamber and have instead relied on messaging portraying the GOP’s recently passed tax law as a giveaway to the rich.
“While impeachment is not an argument that will win a majority, the I-word, as well as resisting Trump for anything and everything, helps Democrats fundraise as it’s what their ActBlue base wants to hear,” Lennox said.
“For Democrats, it’s a winning fundraising strategy,” he added.
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In the Senate, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), a prolific fundraiser, is the rare Democrat to call openly for Trump’s impeachment over alleged corruption. He is running in a purple state but appears poised to rely on a base-driving strategy to secure another term next year.
Due to a favorable map, Republicans are predicted to retain the Senate in 2026, though Democrats have successfully recruited top candidates in the battlegrounds of Ohio and North Carolina.