Jeffries Whipped the Kirk Resolution

Schumer weaseled it through the Senate

Author

mister mix
September 20, 2025

There’s a lot of rage on BlueSky about the recent vote in the House to honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy. Here’s the end part of the resolution:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the assassination of Charles “Charlie” James Kirk, and all forms of political violence;

(2) commends and honors the dedicated law enforcement and emergency personnel for their tireless efforts in finding the suspect responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk and urges the administration of swift justice to the suspect;

(3) extends its deepest condolences and sympathies to Charlie Kirk’s family, including his wife, Erika, and their two young children, and prays for comfort, peace, and healing in this time of unspeakable loss;

(4) honors the life, leadership, and legacy of Charlie Kirk, whose steadfast dedication to the Constitution, civil discourse, and Biblical truth inspired a generation to cherish and defend the blessings of liberty; and

(5) calls upon all Americans—regardless of race, party affiliation, or creed—to reject political violence, recommit to respectful debate, uphold American values, and respect one another as fellow Americans.

First, the resolution passed the Senate by unanimous consent, which means nobody objected but there was no roll call vote. So Schumer and his caucus chose not to fight about this.

Over in the House, things did not go as smoothly. 95 Democrats voted for the resolution, 58 Democrats voted against, 38 voted Present and 22 didn’t show up for the vote. If you want to see how your Representative voted, here’s the roll call. Hakeem Jeffries voted for the resolution. AOC of course got it right, as usual:

AOC: We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed that the civil rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake… His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social)2025-09-19T16:19:52.480Z

House leadership whipped their members to vote for the resolution. This put a lot of members in a bind. If you want to move up in the House, you need to vote with leadership. One Representative who got a lot of flack on this one was Sarah MacBride, who is trans and voted for the resolution. AOC made this point about that:

So, if you want to be angry at your Democratic Representative who voted for this resolution, go ahead and be angry — there were plenty of Reps who voted against it. But realize that leadership played a big role in this. They made it a loyalty vote, and here’s their reasoning:

The assassination of Charlie Kirk was horrifying, completely incompatible with American values and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. 

The intense atmosphere of political violence that exists in America is not sustainable, and requires all leaders, regardless of ideology, to bring the country together. The march toward righteous reconciliation will not be easy, but it is a necessary one to prevent America from exploding. 

We will vote yes on H. Res 719 which is on the floor today. Our vote is not an endorsement of the views espoused by Charlie Kirk in any way, shape or form.

I’ve linked to the full text of the resolution above — you can make up your own mind about whether it endorsed the views espoused by Kirk. I think it did, and I think this vote was another instance where Democratic leadership took their base for granted and demoralized them.

My current Representative, Brittany Petterson, voted “Present” which is no profile in courage, but at least she bucked leadership a little bit. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on Oversight, the position that neither AOC nor Jasmine Crockett were allowed to get by leadership, didn’t vote. AOC and Crockett sealed their fate with the leadership by voting NAY.

Leadership should have made this a “conscience vote” — one that isn’t whipped, where members vote their conscience. Choosing not to do that was, well, a choice.

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