Top Democrats say it is no accident that Ms. Pelosi’s head-spinning turn from opposing an impeachment inquiry to calling for one came less than 24 hours after seven first-term moderates, including military veterans and two former C.I.A. officers, embraced the idea in the opinion pages of The Washington Post on Monday night. Other moderate freshmen followed with their own carefully drafted statements. Most had strongly resisted impeachment and some have tough re-election races.
“It caused other colleagues to change their minds and it signaled the gravity of the moment,” said Representative David Cicilline, of Rhode Island, a member of the Democratic leadership. “It wasn’t a coincidence that all these events happened together. As they began to call for it, it created, really, a dam breaking in our caucus.”
That has created a new atmosphere in the Capitol, where the moderates have spent months ducking reporter’s impeachment questions, often refusing to mention the word. Eclipsed in the media by liberals like Ms. Tlaib and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, they are now taking their turn in the spotlight, forthright about their views on and off camera.
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