Rep. Jonathan Jackson was one of the loudest voices for impeaching Pete Hegseth right away. When the House finally voted on it, he was not there.

The Illinois Democrat was among 11 members who did not cast a vote on Tuesday. Republicans won the motion 211-204 and sent the impeachment resolution off to the Judiciary Committee.

The math

In all, 415 members voted. If all 11 absent Democrats had shown up to vote no, the Republican motion would have failed.

The effort was led by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. The articles claimed Hegseth waged an illegal war against Iran. It also cited deadly strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs.

His excuse

Jackson said a traffic incident and a bus with a police escort slowed him down.

A videographer claims Jackson was right outside the Capitol at roughly 5:57 PM. The vote did not close until 6:02 PM. He says Jackson was on the steps recording a video for social media. That video never showed up on his accounts.

Pressed for answers

The congressman was asked about it again outside the Capitol on Wednesday. He called the miss "inexcusable."

He pointed out that the vote was procedural. When asked for more, he said, "I wish I could answer you in any more detail."

Earlier on Tuesday, Jackson had argued that Democrats could not wait for the new Congress to be sworn in before going after Hegseth.