February 2, 2026

WASHINGTON — Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat and former NASA astronaut, on Sunday called for the impeachment and removal of Vice President JD Vance, delivering one of the most direct and aggressive challenges yet from congressional Democrats to the early months of President Donald J. Trump’s second term.

In a statement posted to social media and later amplified in brief remarks to reporters outside the Capitol, Mr. Kelly accused Mr. Vance of “repeatedly enabling actions that threaten the constitutional order and the rule of law.” The Arizona senator stopped short of detailing specific articles of impeachment but pointed to the vice president’s tie-breaking votes in the Senate, his public defense of several controversial executive actions, and what Mr. Kelly described as a pattern of rhetoric that “normalizes disregard for institutional checks.”

“Vice President Vance has positioned himself as the decisive enabler of policies and decisions that many of us believe cross clear constitutional lines,” Mr. Kelly said. “When the vice president casts the deciding vote to confirm nominees who have openly questioned judicial independence or when he champions executive orders that appear designed to circumvent Congress, silence is no longer an option. The country deserves accountability.”

The call, while unlikely to produce any immediate legislative consequence in a Republican-controlled Congress, has quickly become a rallying point for progressive activists and a fresh source of partisan friction less than two weeks into the new administration.

Mr. Vance, who was sworn in as vice president on Jan. 20, has already cast several tie-breaking votes, including one that advanced the confirmation of several Cabinet nominees viewed skeptically by Democrats. He has also been a prominent defender of the administration’s rapid moves on immigration enforcement, federal workforce reductions and the use of emergency declarations to redirect funds without congressional approval.

Republicans dismissed Mr. Kelly’s statement almost immediately.

“Senator Kelly is recycling the same tired partisan playbook that failed spectacularly in 2019 and 2021,” said a spokesman for the vice president, referring to the two impeachments of Mr. Trump during his first term. “This is nothing more than political theater from a senator whose party lost the White House, the Senate and ground everywhere else last November. The American people rejected that approach.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, went further, calling the impeachment talk “dangerous and destabilizing” and suggesting it could backfire politically on Democrats in swing districts and states.

Mr. Kelly, who won re-election in 2022 in a closely contested race and is frequently mentioned as a potential presidential contender in 2028, has generally cultivated a moderate, bipartisan image. His decision to embrace such a confrontational stance reflects both the intensity of Democratic frustration in the minority and a calculation that symbolic stands can help energize the base and define the party’s opposition posture early in the Trump term.

The impeachment process would face formidable barriers. The Constitution requires the House to impeach by simple majority and the Senate to convict by a two-thirds vote. With Republicans holding majorities in both chambers — 53 seats in the Senate and a narrow majority in the House — no serious observer believes articles of impeachment against Mr. Vance could pass either body at this time.

Still, the mere invocation of impeachment carries symbolic weight. No vice president has ever been impeached. Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973 amid a bribery scandal before any formal proceedings could begin, and no subsequent vice president has faced a comparable threat.

Mr. Kelly’s statement also arrives amid separate but related Democratic criticism of several Trump Cabinet picks and White House advisers. Progressive groups have already begun circulating petitions calling for investigations into Attorney General Pam Bondi and other figures, though no coordinated impeachment campaign against multiple officials has emerged.

For now, the Arizona senator’s move appears designed more to draw a bright line than to launch a realistic removal effort.

“Sometimes you have to say the quiet part out loud,” said one senior Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy. “The country is watching how far this administration will go. Mark is making clear that some of us intend to keep calling it what it is.”

Whether the impeachment call fades into the background noise of Washington or becomes a recurring theme in Democratic messaging will depend largely on the actions — and controversies — of the administration in the weeks and months ahead.