As Republican after Republican retires rather than defend their party’s agenda in Washington, Congressman Upton stands as an example of what happens when someone who, at least for the moment, attempts to stay in the game: they’re forced to cave wholly and utterly to the GOP insiders they once boasted of standing up against.

Gone is the Congressman Upton bragging of putting country over party. Here instead is the Congressman Upton wining and dining with President Trump and Kevin McCarthy at Trump International before voting against an inquiry into Trump’s actions despite meekly saying: “I want the answers to the questions that need to be raised.”

And bad news for Upton, Michigan voters are taking notice.

Impeachment may complicate 2020 for lonely Michigan moderate

AP // Sara Burnett

[…]

For officeholders who were proud of holding the middle ground and working with the opposing party, big questions loom about whether being a moderate is still a viable political position, or whether the impeachment storm sweeping U.S. politics will force everyone to accept a new identity — pro-Trump or anti-Trump — and await voters’ judgment on it.

[…]

“I don’t know how long he can keep that high-wire act going,” Miller said, particularly as polls show support for impeachment growing among independents as well as Democrats.

“What we’ve heard year after year from those voters is ‘Good old Fred. He’s a good guy. He’s OK by me,’” Miller said, adding that a vote against impeachment should peel off a number of those independents. “The question is: Will it be enough?”

John Gregory, an Air Force veteran who works in the aerospace industry, said that for most of his career, Upton has been in touch with the district, but that he’s seemed to shift toward the right. He said he knows others — veterans and non-veterans — who are concerned about what they’re hearing during impeachment proceedings and want Upton to “put his oath of office above party politics.”

“He was elected because I think a lot of people here feel he’s a good moderate and represents the district, but there are a lot of questions right now,” the 57-year-old said.

[…]

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