WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rocky River Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez was walking to his Capitol Hill office from the House of Representatives floor when the commotion began on Jan. 6.

Rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol. Everyone had to shelter in place. He barricaded himself in his office with staffers, and watched the chaos unfold on television and social media. He changed from his suit to workout gear, in case he needed to make a run for it. He called contacts in the administration of outgoing President Donald Trump in an effort to secure aid for overwhelmed Capitol Police officers.

As the rampage persisted, Gonzalez was appalled when Trump posted a Twitter statement that aggravated tensions by attacking Vice President Mike Pence based on what Gonzalez calls a perverted reading of the Constitution. Trumps posting said Pence didnt have the courage to reject the electoral votes that Congress was tallying to formalize Joe Bidens victory over Trump. Rioters at the Capitol chanted Hang Mike Pence throughout the disturbance, even though Pence lacked authority to do Trumps bidding and courts throughout the nation rejected Trumps claims that Bidens win was fraudulent.

I like to think that no matter who is the perpetrator, whether its a foreign actor or domestic actor, if somebody is attacking the United States Congress, the President of the United States will step up and do everything to stop it and stop it immediately, Gonzalez said. Instead, we saw what amounted to escalation, indifference for a period of time and then a sort of ham-handed attempt at calming the situation that didnt happen until hours into the insurrection.

A week later, Gonzalez was among 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump on an incitement of insurrection charge for his role in provoking the mob that attacked Congress and caused five deaths, including that of a Capitol Police officer. Since then, some Trump loyalists have turned their fury on Gonzalez and other Republicans who backed impeachment. Gonzalez has increased security for himself and his family due to threats.

Its concerning, but were managing it, says Gonzalez, who declined to further discuss the threats.

In an interview with cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer, Gonzalez talked about the riot and its aftermath, the impeachment vote, his political future and the future of the Trump and the Republican Party.

Pushback, praise on impeachment vote

Among those who have conveyed their displeasure with Gonzalez vote is Trump himself. Gonzalez says Trump - whose policies he supported in 88.6% of votes during his first congressional term - indirectly let him know hes unhappy. He says Republican leaders in Ohio also conveyed their vexation to him in different ways.

Members of his party in the House of Representatives havent tried to sanction him the way theyre trying to oust House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her leadership post for backing impeachment. Gonzalez calls the effort to sanction Cheney silly and petty, since Republican leaders told their members to vote their conscience on impeachment, and thats what he and Cheney did.

He says a handful of his GOP colleagues in Congress told them they would have liked to vote to impeach Trump, but their districts wouldnt allow it.

I dont know if my district will allow it for me, but I think were supposed to be here to do what we think is right, says Gonzalez. And your commitment to your oath should be far stronger than your commitment to your job.

Among constituents in Gonzalez current V-shaped district that includes parts of Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit, Portage and Stark counties and all of Wayne County, Gonzalez says theres a faction that enthusiastically agrees with his stance. A a second group disagrees with his vote but understands why he did it, and a third group is furious with him. Gonzalez says hes been trying to explain his vote to as many people as he can, and will have a tele-townhall on Thursday where he can communicate his reasoning to thousands of constituents and hear their concerns.

One of the things thats become obvious to me is, no matter where you are on it, theres a lot of emotion around the vote, says Gonzalez. And theres a lot of emotion around changes that were seeing in the country. One of my goals is to provide as many forums as possible for voters to engage with me and engage with each other, so that we can hear where the community is on on this issue. Were going to keep doing that across the district, as long as it takes. And I think that ultimately will be healthy, because people have a lot to get off their chests right now. And Im hearing it day to day in our conversations.

What the political future holds

Gonzalez did not face a primary contest in 2020 and won the general election with 63.2 percent of the vote. He thinks theres a good chance hell face a primary challenge in 2022 but believes it wont materialize until after the states congressional maps are redrawn and his districts geography is reset. He won the 2018 general election with 56.7 percent of the vote after winning 53 percent in a three way Republican primary with former state legislator Christina Hagan and physician Michael Grusenmeyer. Hagan, who lost a 2020 bid for Congress against Democrat Tim Ryan in a neighboring district, says she wont rule out a rematch with Gonzalez in 2022.

I dont live my life in fear of primaries, says Gonzalez, who had $564,935 left in his campaign account at the end of 2020, after raising $2,393,597 and spending $1,895,208 on his reelection. I didnt do it for the first two years, and Im not going to do it for the next two years.

Gonzalez says its very, very, very unlikely that hell pursue the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Republican Rob Portmans decision to not seek re-election next year, but he doesnt want to disqualify the possibility. He said some people are urging him to run, and others say hed be a fool to do so. He says he hopes whoever gets the seat can be as effective on behalf of Ohio as Rob Portman was.

I never close the door on anything, says Gonzalez, who was a wide receiver for Ohio State University and the Indianapolis Colts before he entered politics. When coaches are having a good season, the media will ask about rumors theyre taking a job with the Miami Dolphins. Theyll say absolutely not, and then three weeks later they take the Miami Dolphins job. That looks silly, so Im not going to play those games. You never say no. Thats my answer.

Rejecting extremism

Gonzalez says he expects Trump will try to stay engaged in Republican politics for as long as he can, but he cant predict Trumps role or whether hell seek the White House again. Gonzalez does not think it would be a good idea for Trump to start a third political party, as Trump has discussed. Gonzalez thinks it would be a better idea for the Republican Party to retain Trumps successful policies but make sure that some of these extremist fringe movements that have attached themselves to the GOP umbrella know that there is no home in this party for anti-Semitism or extremism or political violence or QAnon conspiracy theories.

I think we all have a responsibility in elected office for when we see it, to call it out for what it is, says Gonzalez, adding that Democrats also have their fringe adherents in the Antifa movement.

He says he is still reviewing past behavior by his newly elected Republican colleague from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom Democrats have suggested should be expelled from Congress or removed from her assignment on the House Education and Labor Committee after making controversial statements that include espousing conspiracy theories and contending that several school shootings were hoaxes.

If youre advocating for political violence against anybody, if youre harassing teenagers and telling them that they werent involved in a shooting or that it was a false flag, this is just disgusting behavior, frankly, and it is nothing I want to associate myself with, says Gonzalez. And I hope others feel the same way.

Because Greenes constituents were aware of her views before she was elected, Gonzalez says he does not think she should be ejected from Congress but said removing her from committees should be looked at because participation on congressional committees is an honor that you earn.

The Republican agenda

Gonzalez argues that Trumps stances on issues like trade, taxes, energy independence and foreign policy were spot on for Ohio, which is why the states voters supported him by eight percentage points in the 2016 and 2018 presidential elections. He says the Republican Party needs to retain the goodness associated with these policies and what they represented for Ohio, which was a strong, robust economy and get rid of some of the more extremist rhetoric and behavior that attached itself, wrongly I would argue, to this movement and make sure that were very clear that things like political violence, and the mobs and the insurrections and some of these conspiracy theories just have no place in conservatism.

He said the Republican Party in Ohio is controlled by voters, rather than Trump, and is as strong as it has ever been. Republicans hold nearly all Ohios statewide elected offices, and Gonzalez says he doesnt know of any QAnon or militia believers among Ohio Republicans in the state party or in elected office.

You see a lot of good, honest people who are doing a great job, and are representing traditional conservative Republican values, says Gonzalez.

During his initial two years in Congress, Gonzalez passed legislation including a bill that blocks national cemeteries from banning battlefield cross memorials, another to help the government fight realistic-looking fraudulent videos and photographs called deepfakes that could be used for scams, to sow public discord and endanger national security, and several bills that target misbehavior by China such as intellectual property theft. Over the next two years, he says hell focus on efforts to defeat the coronavirus and reduce prescription drug costs.

Currently, the United States subsidizes drug prices all around the rest of the world, Gonzalez says. Drug companies do the overwhelming majority of their research and development here, funded by the taxpayer. We get the drugs developed and then they sell them overseas at a fraction of the cost that they sell them here in the U.S.. Thats not fair.

He thinks it will be difficult for Republicans to pursue their agenda with Democrats controlling the White House and Congress for the next two years, and says Republicans will need to win back suburban voters by letting them know what we stand for, who we are, what we believe and what we reject.

He feels that ultimately, history will harshly judge those who supported rejecting the electoral votes of states that Trump contested on Jan. 6, because the point of doing so was to overturn a presidential election.

I hope we can all, over time, come to understand how dangerous it truly was, says Gonzalez. Theres a lot of people who are just never going to agree with the impeachment vote. But my hope is that over time, we will all look and say, You know what? The vice president cant pick the president. The Congress cant pick the president. The people in the states pick the president, and thats how it works in the United States. And the peaceful transition of power isnt some quaint idea thats nice to have. It is actually essential to a functioning democracy. Thats what I hope, more than anything else, that people think about these last three weeks.

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Rocky River Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez gets flak for voting to impeach President Donald Trump but doesn - cleveland.com