The United States House of Representatives has voted narrowly to derail an effort to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, handing the embattled Pentagon chief a significant victory even as questions remain over his political future.

The chamber voted 211 to 204 on Tuesday, 10 November, in favour of a motion to refer the impeachment charges to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, effectively stopping the effort sponsored by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie. Massie was the only Republican to vote against the motion.

The vote short-circuited any floor vote on the articles of impeachment and virtually guarantees the measure will not be taken up before the current session of Congress expires. It also delivered a defeat for House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is hoping to cement his position as the incoming Speaker when Democrats take control of the chamber in January.

Eight articles, one lone Republican supporter

Massie, an anti-war Republican and frequent critic of the Trump administration, introduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday. They accused Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanours, including waging war against Iran without congressional approval, unlawfully ignoring Congress over the seizure of Venezuela's leader, launching deadly strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, failing to minimise civilian casualties, and suppressing free speech.

The narrow margin came down in part to absences: 11 Democrats and seven Republicans did not vote. Several Democrats said afterwards that they were delayed by unexpected traffic coming from a Washington event. The office of Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said she and other members were “blocked from entering the Capitol to vote due to a traffic incident and a police escort of a bus during the vote”.

Had all the absent Democrats, a group that included former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, turned up, the impeachment effort would have survived. As it was, Massie stood alone among Republicans in backing his own resolution.

Trump celebrates as Hegseth likens case to his own

President Donald Trump took to social media to celebrate after the vote. “The Democrats' attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED!” he wrote on Truth Social on 10 November. “Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete.”

At a news conference earlier on Tuesday, Hegseth likened the bid to remove him from office to the two times the House voted to impeach Trump. “Both times he came back stronger, and the American people sent him back to the White House,” he said. “Now they're trying a third time, this time against a member of his Cabinet. They will fail again.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called the vote a “TOTAL VICTORY!” and described the impeachment effort as “a political exercise devoid of merit, evidence, or seriousness”.

Hegseth is one of the most controversial figures in Trump's Cabinet. He faced a difficult confirmation fight last year, has had a rocky tenure leading the Pentagon, and has become the public face of the deeply unpopular war with Iran. Trump has said he will make some changes to his Cabinet after the midterm elections, but that he remains confident in Hegseth, calling him “perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the country”.

Relief among Republicans, but the fight is likely to return

Several House Republicans told USA Today they were relieved by the result, but feared it would not stop Democrats from trying again once they regain the majority in January. “I'm not sure how we can fight it. We're not going to have the votes to stop it,” said Representative Carlos Gimenez of Florida. “Here, the only thing that matters is the majority. And we don't have it.”

With around 260 seats in the new House, Democrats would have the numbers to revive the effort in the new Congress. Massie leaves Congress at the end of the year, but the articles he filed could be taken up again by others.

Even some Republicans who voted to shelve the measure made clear their support was not an endorsement of Hegseth's record. Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, who is retiring at the end of the year, said he did not support Massie's rationale for impeachment, but pointed to other issues he had with the secretary. “The areas that concern me most about the secretary aren't in the impeachment,” he told reporters on 9 November. “I'm not the only one that feels that way, a bunch of us have talked about it.”

Democrats argue the procedural manoeuvre settled nothing about the substance of the allegations, which were never debated or voted on, leaving Hegseth in post but still embattled as he struggles to negotiate a bipartisan deal to fund the Pentagon.