On February 5, 2020, the senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial. A vote to acquit means the Senate believes he is not guilty. While President Trump was impeached in the house, he was not removed from office in the Senate. 

“Forty-eight senators supported a verdict of guilty on Article I; fifty-two voted not guilty. Forty-seven senators supported a verdict of guilty on Article II; fifty-three voted not guilty. The Senate would have needed sixty-seven votes to convict Trump on either article,” according to National Public Radio’s Philip Ewing in  ‘Not Guilty’: Trump Acquitted On 2 Articles Of Impeachment As Historic Trial Closes. 

Mitt Romney, a Utah senator made history when he voted against Trump during the impeachment trials. He is the first senator in history to vote against their own party during impeachment. 

“The President did in fact pressure a foreign government to corrupt our election process,” Romney said, “And really, corrupting an election process in a democratic republic is about as abusive and egregious an act against the Constitution—and one’s oath—that I can imagine. It’s what autocrats do,” said Romney according to The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins in How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty.

Even with Mitt Romney voting against his own party, there was still almost no chance of President Trump being removed from office, as they needed two-thirds of the Senate or sixty-seven senators to vote for Removal from Office. A significantly higher number of  Republican Senators would have needed to break from their party. 

Now since the impeachment trial is over, the focus is on the 2020 election. When deciding to impeach there was going to be a risk of it backfiring on the Democratic candidates running for president in 2020, whether or not the President will gain more support from the trial or not. 

“I think he will win again,” said Loy Norrix government and law teacher Niambi Pringle. “I don’t believe that Republicans or Democrats have a good candidate, and Trump has many followers that do not care about what he did wrong morally or immorally. I feel people or going for him even if it was immoral or not, or legal or not. The individuals on the fence for voting for him again, they are going to vote because the acquittal justified his action.”