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Six North Carolina GOP House Members Join Democrats On Syria Vote

N.C. Congressmen Patrick McHenry (left) and Richard Hudson were two of seven N.C. Republicans to vote with Democrats on a resolution condemning the president's withdrawal of troops in Syria.
N.C. Congressmen Patrick McHenry (left) and Richard Hudson were two of seven N.C. Republicans to vote with Democrats on a resolution condemning the president's withdrawal of troops in Syria.

Seven North Carolina Congressional Republicans voted Wednesday in favor of a bi-partisan resolution condemning President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria.

The symbolic resolution said the president’s troop withdrawal is “beneficial to adversaries of the United States government.” It passed overwhelmingly in the House, 354 to 60, with two thirds of Republicans joining Democrats.

All three Democrats in North Carolina’s 13-member House delegation voted for the resolution, and they were joined by seven Republicans, including 10th District Rep. Patrick McHenry of Lincoln County and 8th District Rep. Richard Hudson of Cabarrus County.

Two North Carolina Republicans voted against the resolution: Reps. Mark Meadows of the 11th district and Greg Murphy of the 3rd district. Meadows is a close ally of the president and former leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus. 

Two North Carolina GOP members didn’t vote: Charlotte’s Dan Bishop – who was elected to the 9th District last month – and Ted Budd, who represents the 13th District in Salisbury and Statesville.

Bishop hasn’t issued a statement on the Syrian withdrawal.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who is running for re-election, said last week he would give the president “the benefit of the doubt” on Syria. 

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, who chairs the Senate’s Intelligence Committee, has called on Turkey to stop its military incursion into Syria, and said the U.S. should not abandon its Kurdish allies. He did not mention the president in his statement.

Demcoratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana introduced a compansion resolution Tuesday, according to the The New York Times.

Two of South Carolina’s five Republican members of Congress – Reps. William Timmons and Joe Wilson – joined Democrats in supporting the resolution. Timmons represents the 4th District in upstate South Carolina. Wilson represents the 2nd district.

Correction
This story has changed to reflect that Congressman Greg Murphy voted against the resolution. A previous version of this story reported that Congressman Mark Meadows was the only North Carolina representative to vote against the resolution.

Steve Harrison is WFAE's politics and government reporter. Prior to joining WFAE, Steve worked at the Charlotte Observer, where he started on the business desk, then covered politics extensively as the Observer’s lead city government reporter. Steve also spent 10 years with the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.