Washington (CNN) Vice President Mike Pence urged Senate Democrats to break ranks and "stand up against" the articles of impeachment in a Wall Street Journal op-ed comparing the Senate trial of President Donald Trump to President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial in 1868.

"The question naturally arises: Who, among the Senate Democrats, will stand up to the passions of their party this time? Who will stand up against 'legislative mob rule' and for the rule of law? Who will be the 2020 Profile in Courage?" Pence wrote in the op-ed, published Thursday.

A true profile in courage, he said, "would be a Senate Democrat willing to stand up and reject a partisan impeachment passed by the Democrat-controlled House."

Calling the similarities between Trump's and Johnson's trials "striking," the op-ed praises Republican Sen. Edmund G. Ross of Kansas, who, after breaking with his party, is generally considered to have cast the deciding vote to acquit Johnson.

"Ross was determined to render a fair judgment, resisting his own party's stampede," Pence writes, adding that while "he faced social ostracism and physical assault" for his vote, he "knew he was right."

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