Maxine Waters is now officially a “disassociated member” of the House. Fifty-five days of no-shows will do that. The California Democrat has not cast a vote or shown up for a committee hearing in nearly two months, according to House records. That stretch has now triggered a rarely used status that opens the door for her colleagues to remove her from her seat.
Under Article 5, Section 7, Speaker Mike Johnson can call for her removal with a simple majority vote. Republicans hold enough seats to pass it without help from a single Democrat.
“She’s clearly not able to do the job,” one Republican aide said. “Seat sits empty till November.”
Waters, who has represented parts of Los Angeles for more than three decades, was once one of the loudest voices in Congress. She became a fixture at rallies and on cable news, especially during the first Trump administration, when her calls for impeachment made her a hero to the left.
Lately, though, her office has been quiet. Staffers in neighboring offices say the lights are on, but the congresswoman herself hasn’t been seen in the building for weeks. Her schedule lists no public events, and calls to her office have gone mostly unanswered.
“People kept asking where she was, and the answer was always the same,” one House employee said. “She’s ‘working from the district.’ After a while, nobody believed it.”
Democratic leaders spent months downplaying the absence. When reporters asked about the missed votes, party officials said Waters was dealing with private matters and that her constituents were still being served. They asked for patience and respect for her privacy.
Republicans say that line no longer works.
“You can’t cover for someone forever,” said one GOP lawmaker. “There are hundreds of thousands of people in that district who don’t have a vote right now. That’s not fair to them.”
Some Democrats privately agree. One senior aide admitted that the party knew for a while that Waters was struggling to keep up with the job but didn’t want to pressure a longtime member into stepping aside.
“There’s a lot of loyalty to Maxine,” the aide said. “Maybe too much.”
If the removal vote happens, the seat would stay vacant until November, when voters in the district would pick her replacement. Johnson hasn’t said when or whether he plans to bring it to the floor, though people close to the Speaker say he is weighing it carefully.
Supporters of Waters say the whole thing is political. Civil rights groups in Los Angeles called the “disassociated member” label humiliating and accused Republicans of using her absence to score points.
Still, the numbers are hard to argue with. Fifty-five days is a long time to go without showing up to work, no matter who you are.
Dems covered for her for months. Can’t hide it anymore.