Both of Sarasota-Manatee’s representatives in Congress voted on Wednesday against articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. And both of their Democratic opponents next year say they would have voted differently.

U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, and Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, each declined to support a Democratic-led impeachment process.

“I will vote today against both articles of impeachment because they are without merit and set a dangerous precedent for our country,” Buchanan said. “This political vendetta is an abuse of the impeachment process and would subvert the votes of 63 million Americans. Just because the President’s opponents are afraid he will win reelection is no excuse for weaponizing impeachment.  No president in history has ever been impeached 10 months before an election. Elections are the heart of our democracy. Our founding fathers devised a simple way to remove a president that you disagree with — it’s called an election — and we have one coming up in less than a year. Let the people decide."

Steube served on the judiciary committee that approved the articles of impeachment and voted against them there as well.

“Let me be clear: impeachment is nothing more than a political vendetta,” Steube said in a statement. “We could have spent the last several months working to fix problems facing everyday Americans, but instead, we wasted time on this charade. Every day, constituents ask me when we are going to get a particular bill passed, and far too often I have to tell them that I simply don’t know because we have wasted so much time on an unnecessary impeachment process.”

But the Democrats challenging both representatives disagreed.

Margaret Good, who is challenging Buchanan next year, said she fully supported both articles of impeachment against Trump.

“After carefully considering the evidence, it is clear the President violated his oath of office and undermined our national security when he put his interests above our country’s by attempting to bribe a foreign power to investigate a political rival,” Good said in a statement. “I support the articles of impeachment because this is an abuse of power, and now more than ever we must protect our Constitution and put country over politics.”

Ellison, who is running against Steube in a deep red district, criticized leaders as being careless in the impeachment process.

“This is what happens when Congressional members make the mistake of attempting to represent the President of the United States instead honoring their oath of office and representing the people,” he said. "I, like many citizens, find it alarming that members of Congress will go against their Oaths of Office to uphold the President’s actions by totally dismissing the enormous amount of testimonies pointing to wrong doing, the President’s own words and the irrefutable evidence that rise to High Crimes and Misdemeanors."