Illinois Rep. Eric Sorensen was one of 14 Democratic lawmakers in D.C. to vote with Republicans on a resolution aiming to block a bill that would change policing laws in Washington, D.C.
Sorensen’s reasoning for the vote, however, appears to have little to do with policy or what he believes in, and everything to do with political gamesmanship and re-election.
Sorensen’s media contact did not respond to a request for comment.
The bill, which Republicans hope will nullify a local D.C. policing reform that would ban the use of chokeholds by police, require body camera footage to be released after violent incident and make police discipline records more publicly available, had little chance of being signed by President Joe Biden, who had already threatened to veto it.
Sorensen, whose 17th House District includes Galesburg and almost all of Peoria, as well as the Rockford area, voted with fellow Illinois Democrat Nikki Budzinski, whose 13th District encompasses parts of Springfield and Urbana, to vote with Republicans on the bill.
But in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Sorensen laid out his reasoning for his vote, sparking backlash among some of his supporters.
In response to one constituent who asked Sorensen to explain his vote, Sorensen replied with a link explaining messaging bills and said, “I’ve been in contact with the White House and this bill has no chance of being signed. R’s know that and now they can’t use this vote against me in the next election.”
Sorensen appears to be accusing Republicans of making a show of this vote, voting on it while they know it won’t pass, while saying he voted with them so they could not harm him during the next re-election cycle.
Another Twitter user then replied to Sorensen, “So the message you’re sending is that you’ll vote for stuff you don’t believe in as long as you can get away with it and it keeps you in office? That’s a hell of a message.”
Sorensen did not appear to directly answer that question.
“The people in my district know who I am. I hope you’ll consider running for office where you are,” Sorensen replied.
When another Twitter user appeared to mock Sorensen for admitting to partaking in a messaging vote, he said “I’ll always tell it like it is. The R’s are specifically wasting our time with these bills, trying to divide us by going extreme and avoiding the real problems the people sent us here to do. If you have a chance, watch the last 15 seconds of the floor speech I gave this week.”
Source: Journal Star
