Jeffries names Hegseth removal among Democrats’ first acts in a majority
House Democrats are positioning for the removal of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with an impeachment vote likely next month while Republicans still control the chamber and another attempt expected next year if the party takes the House. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said removing Hegseth would be among the first actions Democrats would take in a majority, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) said he plans to force an impeachment vote against Hegseth shortly after the House returns to session on Nov. 9.
The push for Hegseth’s removal runs alongside deliberate silence on another possible target. House Democratic leaders and candidates in competitive districts have avoided committing to a third impeachment of President Trump if they flip the GOP-led chamber, seeing it as potentially counterproductive. At a rally in Pennsylvania this month, Jeffries said, “One of the first things we’re going to do in the majority, we’re going to run Pete Hegseth out of town,” drawing cheers from the crowd. Democrats have repeated the line at rallies, in public statements and on cable news.
On CNN, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) said Hegseth is “incompetent and, frankly, corrupt.” Rep. Jared Huffman (D., Calif.) called the secretary an “unhinged fanatic who should be impeached and removed from office.”
The Pentagon has defended Hegseth’s record. Press secretary Kingsley Wilson described him as a transformative leader and said “the entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision.” Wilson said the department “is solely focused on peace through strength and ensuring our warfighters have everything they need to be successful.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, who managed Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021, said “Nobody lifts an eyebrow” about talk of impeaching a cabinet member. Removing an administration official, Raskin said, does not raise the same questions as lawmakers “undoing a presidential election or undermining the will of the people.”
Impeachment requires a simple majority in the House. If the House votes, the matter moves to the Senate, where a two-thirds supermajority is required to convict — a step seen as very unlikely. The only time the House has impeached a war secretary was William Belknap in 1876, who resigned minutes before the vote and was later acquitted by the Senate.
Massie first moved against Hegseth in September, reading articles of impeachment on the House floor to force a vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) then sent lawmakers home, postponing the effort until after the midterms. “I saw no other avenue to stop them from waging illegal war,” Massie said in an interview the day he read out the articles. Massie said he intends to force a vote shortly after the House returns on Nov. 9, the week after the elections.
The arithmetic is difficult in the current chamber. Republicans hold a 219-214 advantage, including an independent who caucuses with them. If all House Democrats back the effort, Massie would need at least two more Republicans to join him. None has said they would vote to impeach, and Massie indicated he is counting on some lawmakers who lose their re-election bids to switch sides.
Those votes have not materialized. Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), who lost her bid for governor this year and is leaving Congress, said she will not vote to impeach Hegseth in November. Mace was one of seven Republicans who voted last month to call for an end to the Iran war, but she said Hegseth should not be blamed for continuing hostilities. Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Don Bacon of Nebraska and Warren Davidson of Ohio have also voiced opposition to impeachment, according to the lawmakers and people familiar with their thinking.
Democrats count on other avenues after the election. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D., Va.), the top Democrat on the Oversight subcommittee on military and foreign affairs, said he believes there are already enough votes in the House to impeach Hegseth, due to potential Republican defections in November. In any case, he said, “it makes sense to delve into all the details of all his issues in the new Congress.”
One of the issues Subramanyam cited was a 2025 incident dubbed “Signalgate.” In March 2025, Hegseth posted launch times and aircraft for strikes in a chat that mistakenly included a journalist. The Pentagon’s inspector general found that Hegseth broke department rules by using his personal phone, and that the messages, sent hours before the strikes, risked harm to U.S. military personnel. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the inspector general review exonerated Hegseth. Subramanyam said the episode is “impeachable in and of itself.”
If Democrats take the House, the party says the process will start with investigations rather than a vote. Democrats argue Hegseth has already committed impeachable offenses, and a House majority would give them the votes and subpoena power to dig further. In January, the party can start investigations, release findings and weigh which action — including calling for resignation or impeachment — is the right course. If Democrats do move ahead with impeachment, it would be almost certain to pass a Democratic-led House.
Hegseth’s tenure has drawn criticism from both parties. Lawmakers objected to his proposal to livestream the execution by firing squad of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan; Trump ultimately canceled the plan. During Hegseth’s confirmation process last year, lawmakers on both sides questioned his candidacy, pointing to accusations of excessive drinking and a 2017 sexual-assault allegation, which he denies. Since taking office, Hegseth has ousted senior officials, criticized diversity initiatives, urged that rules for combat be relaxed and pushed for mandatory testosterone testing. This year, he has been a public face for the Iran war as head of the Defense Department, which Trump has dubbed the Department of War.