More than 100 Trump supporters gathered outside U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath’s Sandy Springs office Wednesday to demand a stop to the impeachment inquiry into the president.
As the crowd waved signs and chanted “four more years” on one side of Glenridge Drive, more than 50 counterprotesters demonstrated support for McBath on the other side of the crosswalk.
McBath, D-Marietta, voted last month to advance a bill that set the parameters for House Democrats' impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. But that was before a whistleblower report came to light alleging that Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, and McBath's team insisted at the time that her vote wasn't an outright endorsement of impeachment.
Since then, McBath said she supports the committee's inquiry but has stopped short of calling for impeachment outright.
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The 6th Congressional District was long a conservative stronghold, with the seat being held by Republicans from 1979 until McBath’s victory in 2018. McBath beat one-term Republican incumbent Rep. Karen Handel by just over 3,200 votes — one percentage point — and the district is still closely divided between Republicans and Democrats. Many of those protesting Wednesday were displeased with McBath’s impeachment vote, saying it reflected she was out of touch with her constituents.
“She’s had an agenda from day one to bring (Trump) down,” said Jill Wright, 47, of Milton. “The Democrats need to work for their constituents and not have an agenda. They are disrespecting our president and they are also setting a poor example for our children.”
The event was part of a national effort by Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. The “Stop the Madness” campaign is targeting Democrats like McBath, whose seats are considered competitive in 2020.
“Democrats won congressional seats by promising to work across the aisle,” said Julianne Thompson, a member of the Women for Trump National Advisory Board and a Gwinnett County resident. “Instead, what they’ve done is work to constantly undermine the will of the American people.”
The pro-Trump demonstrators spread across the sidewalk in front of the office park, getting approving honks from passing cars on Glenridge Drive. The biggest spectacle was the “Trump Bus,” driven by Danny Hamilton of Mableton. Hamilton has driven the 12-sleeper tour bus, covered in an American flag motif with images of Trump and pro-Trump slogans, to events in five states over the past three years.
“I do this because I do want America to be first, and right now we are first,” Hamilton said, citing the government’s report of 135,000 new jobs created in September.
On the other side of the traffic light, the counterprotestors chanted “Country over party” and “Lock him up.”
“We’re here to provide context and make sure the majority’s voice is heard,” said Liz Murphy, a member of the 6th District Task Force, a grassroots Democratic group supporting McBath’s re-election. “We elected Lucy McBath and we support her support of the impeachment inquiry.”
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