Republican Congressman Cory Mills has sided with Democrats, helping to stymie a GOP move to reprimand Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Omar made statements about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death that many people, including South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, found objectionable.
Mace said Omar “smeared Charlie Kirk and implied he was to blame for his own murder.” This week Mace moved to censure Omar and have her removed from two House committees.
House Democrats offered a motion to table the censure of Omar, forcing a vote on Sept. 17.
Mills, who faces possible House ethics violations and a request by his ex-girlfriend for a court order of protection against stalking, was one of just four Republicans to vote down the Omar censure on Sept. 17. Republicans Tom McClintock of California, Jeff Hurd of Colorado and Mike Flood of Nebraska joined Mills, bringing the final tally to 214-213.
Why did Cory Mills vote against reprimand of Ilhan Omar?
A spokesman for Mills didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday, Sept. 18, but Mills posted on X his rationale, rooted in the First Amendment right to free speech.
“The 7 Articles and 27 Amendments of our Constitution are not only to be followed when it serves your purpose. … This is a 1A issue. We may not like or agree with what someone says, but that does not mean we should deny their 1A Right.”
With his comment, he cited a previous post by Kirk, stating: “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”
Mills, in his second term representing Seminole and southern Volusia counties in Florida’s 7th District, is himself the subject of a possible censure resolution.
Democratic Rep. Greg Casar of Texas earlier in the week had read on the House floor a censure resolution previously raised by Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York. A spokesman for Casar did not respond to a request for comment on any possible plan to drop his move to censure Mills.
Local Republican official ‘not at all happy’ with Mills’ vote
Vic Baker, the Volusia County Republican state committeeman, said Mills “misses the point” on Mace’s censure of Omar.
“Ilhan Omar said some horrible things after Charlie Kirk’s murder, and the House is well within its rights to censure her for that,” Baker said. “I am stunned that any Republicans voted against that.
“There’s a tidal wave of outrage sweeping across our nation,” Baker continued. “Even though Charlie Kirk was not an elected official, he was one of the most pivotal political figures of our time and his murder is affecting this nation in a way I have not seen since the (John F. Kennedy) assassination. People are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it any more.”
Baker didn’t want to speculate on whether Mills’ vote was simply an attempt to save himself from the embarrassment of his own censure.
“I’m not in the habit of attacking incumbent congressmen,” Baker said, “but I’m not at all happy.”
Mills faces outrage from right on social media
Conservative talk host Mark Levin, who hosted an important debate before Mills’ 2022 Republican primary victory, posted about the Mills vote on Omar.
“4 disgraceful House Republicans supported Islamist Omar despite her cackling at Charlie Kirk’s assassination. All 4 need to be primaried and defeated,” Levin wrote on X.
Laura Loomer, a conservative activist with documented access to President Donald Trump, responded on X, writing: “Outrageous. Why would any Republican vote to protect this jihadist?”
Loomer has 1.8 million followers on X.
Paul A. Szypula, a conservative X user with more than 60,000 followers including the Volusia County Republican Party, Congressman Jimmy Patronis and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, responded to Mills’ vote by calling him a “traitor” and calling for another Republican to challenge Mills the 2026 primary election.
“He sold (out) Charlie Kirk and voted in favor of jihadist Ilhan Omar keeping her committee assignments to save his own seat,” Szypula posted. “Mills has just ended his career in the GOP. Guess he’s got an offer at MSNBC.”
Szypula’s post got more than 17,000 likes and 7,500 reposts.
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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: What’s Cory Mills’ political future after voting with Democrats on Ilhan Omar censure?
Reporting by Mark Harper, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
