Thursday, Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne (D) voted against a proposal she voted in favor of in 2019. The vote in another instance of the congresswoman flip-flopping on issues and her apparent struggle to stand up to her Democratic peers and party on matters regarding ICE.
While the US house debated a Democratic bill that would have stipped way constitutionally protected 2nd Amendment rights, Rep. Ben Cline’s attempted to amend the bill via a motion to recommit by establishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be immediately alerted when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) determines an illegal immigrant is trying to buy a firearm.
The Motion to Recommit was voted down in Congress, 217 Democrats voting no – 207 Republicans yes.
Only a few years ago, in 2019 Cindy Axne, along with 25 of her Democratic colleagues, voted in favor of an identical motion to recommit.
Just 17 of the original 26 Democrats that voted in favor of the measure in 2019 are still in Congress. Thursday, each one voted against it:
- Rep. Cindy Axne (Iowa)
- Rep. Angie Craig (Minn.)
- Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.)
- Rep. Charlie Crist (Fla.)
- Rep. Antonio Delgado (N.Y.)
- Rep. Jared Golden (Maine)
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.)
- Rep. Andy Kim (N.J.)
- Rep. Conor Lamb (Penn.)
- Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.)
- Rep. Elaine Luria (Va.)
- Rep. Stephanie Murphy (Fla.)
- Rep. Tom O’Halleran (Ariz.)
- Rep. Kurt Schrader (Ore.)
- Rep. Mikie Sherrill (N.J.)
- Rep. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)
- Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.)
The vote in 2019 came with a price. It resulted in some bad blood between the Democrats who voted in favor of the measure and Far-left progressives who didn’t. According to The Washington Post after the 2019 vote,
“At a closed-door meeting of House Democrats on Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said some of her colleagues could find themselves ‘on a list’ of primary election targets, after they voted for a Republican amendment requiring that undocumented immigrants who try to buy guns be reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to people in the room who were not authorized to comment publicly.”
Axne, who currently represents Iowa’s Third congressional district is rumored to be mulling a run for Governor or U.S Senate. In a political lens, the vote today can be viewed as either an effort to appease fringe party members to avoid conflict in congress or a strategic decision to leverage when she finds herself in a primary and needs to shore up support with the liberal base.
READ: Axne Abandons Campaign Pledge on ICE?
