This California congressman joins 3 other Republicans to save Omar from censure
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- Rep. McClintock joined three Republicans and all Democrats to defeat censure vote.
- Censure failed 214–213; GOP resolution cited Omar’s online posts after Kirk’s death.
- McClintock condemned speech but defended First Amendment and House free speech norms.
Rep. Tom McClintock joined three other Republicans in voting to kill the GOP effort to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar for her comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“Ilhan Omar’s comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk are vile and contemptible,” said McClintock, R-Elk Grove.
“They deserve the harshest criticism of every man and woman of good will. But this disgusting and hateful speech is still speech and is protected by our First Amendment. Censure is formal punishment by the House, and we have already gone too far down this road,” he said.
The vote to kill the censure bid was 214 to 213. All Democrats voting opposed the censure, while 213 Republicans supported it.
The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., listed repostings of videos on X by Omar, a Minnesota Democrat..
It said that last week, two days after the assassination of the conservative political activist, Omar posted a video on X “which disparaged the character of Charlie Kirk and those mourning his death.”
Omar reposts videos
The video said “Charlie Kirk is dead, and before the body got cold, the far Right propped his corpse up as a cudgel for their holy war”
A reposting by Omar also called Kirk a “a reprehensible human being. He enacted his political agenda by preying on weak-minded people. He took complex socioeconomic issues and simplified them by pointing fingers at out-groups, demonizing those groups, and siccing his massive following on them”
Omar fired back on X that she has “routinely condemned political violence, no matter the political ideology.”
“This is all an attempt to push a false story so she can fundraise and boost her run for governor,” Omar said about Mace.
McClintock found Omar’s actions abhorrent but said they were not made on the House floor.
“Even if they were, they broke no House rules,” he said. “A free society depends on tolerating ALL speech — even hateful speech — confident that the best way to sort good from evil is to put the two side by side and trust the people to know the difference. Congress exists for this purpose.”
If the resolution had been approved, Omar would have lost her committee assignments. She serves on the House Education & Workforce and Budget Committees.
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM.