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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Growing calls to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are putting pressure on Republicans as they fight to maintain their narrow majorities in Congress ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Historically, an unpopular president’s party loses seats in midterms. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings, combined with voter frustration over the economy, have created a difficult climate for Republicans two years after his 2024 election victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris.
While a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives is not guaranteed, gaining control of the chamber would significantly strengthen the party’s ability to pursue impeachment against Hegseth. Without Republican support, initial impeachment efforts in the current GOP-controlled House have struggled to gain traction. A House impeachment would trigger a Senate trial, where conviction and removal would require a two-thirds majority, meaning it would need backing from some Republicans.
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Trump, meanwhile, staunchly defended Hegseth on Thursday, insisting he has done a "great job" with his sweeping changes to the U.S. military and dismissed the demands for impeachment as "terrible."
However, some Democrats have made Hegseth’s removal a top goal. Representative Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said Sunday on CBS News' Face the Nation that ousting Hegseth from the Pentagon was his "priority number one" if Democrats retake the House.
Democrats have focused their criticism on Hegseth’s handling of the Iran war and a strike campaign against suspected drug vessels that has killed at least 240 people. Meanwhile, some Republicans like Representatives Mike Rogers of Alabama and Dusty Johnson of South Dakota have expressed concern over internal friction at the Pentagon and questioned whether Hegseth’s dismissal of senior military officials has harmed readiness.
Hegseth is the "lowest hanging fruit because of the animosity that seems to be both from Republican and Democratic senators and staff," an unnamed Democratic aide told CNN on Friday, though significant doubts remain about whether the Senate would ever convict him.
If Democrats win the House, passing articles of impeachment becomes more plausible. Yet opinion within the party remains divided. Some lawmakers say that Democratic control would be better spent conducting high-profile oversight hearings, while others expect Trump may ultimately fire Hegseth himself.
The threat of congressional action is weighing on some lawmakers. The prospect of impeachment is "probably being taken more seriously privately than people realize," a Republican House staffer told Newsweek, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon has been contacted for comment via email.
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Previous Impeachment Pushes
While articles of impeachment are more well-known for presidents, only two cabinet secretaries, Secretary of War William W. Belknap in 1876 and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, have ever been impeached by the House. The articles failed in the Senate in both cases.
A Democrat push in April 2026, led by Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari, introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth for alleged "high crimes and misdemeanors," largely relating to the Iran war.
Ansari accused Hegseth of endangering U.S. troops, negligently handling sensitive military information, blocking Congressional oversight, politicizing the military, targeting civilians and breaking the laws of armed conflict.
A final impeachment article accused Hegseth of "bringing disrepute upon the United States and its armed forces." The articles haven't reached a House vote.
Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican who has been openly critical of Hegseth, said in mid-September he was forcing a House vote on impeachment using a privileged measure.
Massie claimed Hegseth has contravened several provisions of the 1973 War Powers Resolution and brought eight articles of impeachment against him. Among those articles, Massie accused Hegseth of "unauthorized lethal military targeting of suspected drug traffickers."
The U.S. government has said it is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, insisting the campaign against alleged small drug vessels in the southern Caribbean and Eastern Pacific is necessary to save American lives. Experts and many lawmakers have criticized the strikes as illegal under international law.
Congressional scrutiny of the attacks tightened after it emerged U.S. forces killed survivors of the first attack in September 2025 with a follow-up strike.
Both sets of impeachment articles this year were seen as a long shot, and House Speaker Mike Johnson quickly recessed the chamber without a vote on Massie's measure taking place—meaning Republicans did not have to pass public judgement on Hegseth's leadership of the Pentagon ahead of the midterms.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat—a potential speaker waiting in the wings should the House be flipped—has skirted around the question, suggesting to MS NOW on Saturday instead the Democrats would hold Hegseth "accountable in the same way" as former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The two were both fired by Trump, rather than chased out by articles of impeachment.
"Hegseth needs to be pushed aside by the president, or we’re going to have to deal with that situation if he is not," Jeffries told MS NOW.
And the suggestion of impeachment has gathered pace among some outspoken Republicans. Massie told the Responsible Statecraft magazine last month Congress has "exhausted every other remedy to make things right."
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, meanwhile, has described voting to confirm Hegseth in his role nearly two years ago as the "biggest regret" of his career.
"He needs to go," Tillis, who didn't run for reelection this year, told reporters last month. "Whether it's impeachment or the most expedient route—it's just the president would replace him—would be great."
Another avenue for the Democrats could be threatening to hold up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was pushed through the House in July but has since languished in the Senate, unless Hegseth is removed. The NDAA, which sets out the Pentagon's priorities and authorized its spending, is a "must-pass" piece of legislation.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Anthony Murray and Federica Bindi.
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