The House of Representatives voted Friday on a resolution to honor Charlie Kirk after his assassination. It should have been one of the easiest and most unifying votes in Washington. Instead, fewer than half of House Democrats supported it, turning what should have been a moment of shared principle into yet another partisan divide.
The measure passed with 310 votes in favor. On the Democratic side, 58 voted no, 38 voted “present,” and more than 20 did not even show up to vote. Every single vote against came from Democrats, while Republicans stood nearly unanimous in support.
What made the outcome even more appalling was that some Democrats did not simply withhold their support, they used the moment to take shots at Kirk himself.
Rep. Jamie Raskin claimed the resolution was a “trap,” while others objected that honoring Kirk meant endorsing his political views. In reality, the resolution was about one thing only: condemning political violence. For Democrats to stand on the House floor and criticize the victim while refusing to back the resolution was a display of pure shamelessness.
Here’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taking her turn at the mic, reminding everyone how awful she is:
Everyone understands that honoring someone in this context is not the same as endorsing every policy position or every public statement they made. It is about affirming the principle that no American should be murdered for speaking their mind or holding differing political views. By voting no or refusing to take a stand, Democrats sent the opposite message: that their partisan grudges mattered more than condemning an assassination in clear and absolute terms. In short, this minority of the House is akin to the minority that tacitly approves of violence because, above all else, anyone opposing their views can be treated as not deserving any respect.
What was the problem?
But there were clear concerns inside the Democratic ranks with some of the measure’s language praising Kirk “as a model for young Americans across the political spectrum” who was known for “engaging in respectful, civil discourse across college campuses, media platforms, and national forums, always seeking to elevate truth, foster understanding, and strengthen the Republic.”
Praising someone as a model across the political spectrum who brought young people into politics and debated the issues civilly is a problem? These people are truly lost.
This is not happening in a vacuum. Recent polling shows that while most Americans firmly reject political violence, a troubling minority of those on the far left believe it can sometimes be justified. Younger voters who identify as very liberal are the most likely to express that view. Those numbers are small but not insignificant, and they reinforce the impression that parts of the left are unwilling to fully denounce violence when it is directed at their opponents.
Taken together, the vote and the polling paint a disturbing picture. Dozens of elected Democrats could not bring themselves to honor a man who was murdered for his politics, and a segment of their base openly entertains the idea that violence may sometimes be acceptable. That combination is not just bad optics, but it’s indicative of why Democrats remain morally rudderless.
The resolution was symbolic, but symbols matter. It cost AOC and other “squad” members nothing to vote yes. It required only the decency to say that violence has no place in our political life. Instead, dozens of Democrats chose to look the other way or to pile on with criticism of the victim. That choice will be remembered as one of the most disgraceful acts in recent congressional history.
It’s victim shaming at its finest, something Democrats used to oppose. Here’s the full list of Democrats who voted against the resolution.
Democrats Who Voted “No” and Their Districts
- Alabama: Figures (AL-02), Sewell (AL-07)
- California: Gomez (CA-34), Simon (CA-16), Waters (CA-43)
- Connecticut: Hayes (CT-05)
- Florida: Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Frost (FL-10), Wilson (FL-24)
- Georgia: Bishop (GA-02), Johnson (GA-04), McBath (GA-07), Williams (GA-05)
- Illinois: Davis (IL-07), Jackson (IL-01), Kelly (IL-02), Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Quigley (IL-05), Ramirez (IL-03), Underwood (IL-14)
- Indiana: Carson (IN-07)
- Louisiana: Carter (LA-02), Fields (LA-06)
- Maryland: Ivey (MD-04), Mfume (MD-07)
- Massachusetts: Moulton (MA-06), Pressley (MA-07)
- Michigan: Tlaib (MI-12)
- Minnesota: Omar (MN-05)
- Missouri: Bell (MO-01), Cleaver (MO-05)
- Nevada: Horsford (NV-04)
- New Jersey: Menendez (NJ-08), Watson Coleman (NJ-12)
- New York: Clarke (NY-09), Espaillat (NY-13), Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Velázquez (NY-07)
- North Carolina: Foushee (NC-04)
- Ohio: Beatty (OH-03), Brown (OH-11)
- Pennsylvania: Lee (PA-12)
- Rhode Island: Amo (RI-01)
- South Carolina: Clyburn (SC-06)
- Texas: Crockett (TX-30), Escobar (TX-16), Garcia (TX-29), Green (TX-09)
- Virginia: Scott (VA-03)
- Washington: Jayapal (WA-07), Randall (WA-26)
- Wisconsin: Moore (WI-04)
Source: Congressional Record