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→State Level Impeachments
Impeachments have also occurred, generally more frequently, at the state level, often involving governors or state officials and state judges. The first governor to be impeached was Charles L. Robinson from Kansas, who was impeached due to his rivalry with James Lane. Robinson, along with John Robinson and George S. Hillyer, who were the Secretary of State and Auditor of the state, were all impeached. This was effectively an attempt to overthrow the Kansas government at a time when elections were highly disputed in Kansas and the previous decade's controversial statehood of Kansas lingered in memory. While 1862 impeachment of Robinson of Kansas was the first impeachment of a governor, although he was acquited, the 1870s saw a series of impeachments against governors, stemming from the acrimonious reconstruction years of governors elected or selected in southern states. Governors from Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi were all impeached in the 1870s, with only the governor of Florida (Harrison Reed) surviving his impeachment proceedings.<ref>For more on the first state-level impeachments, see: Snell, G., & Shea, W. (1991). <i>Hysterically historical</i>. Red Fox.</ref>
In 2009, one well known recent case of a governor's impeachment revolved around Rod Blagojevich(Figure 2), who tried to sell and solicit bribes of the senatorial seat occupied by Barack Obama who had become president after 2008. This was notable in being among the fastest impeachment proceedings in history, where it occurred within a month after his arrest. In more recent times, the most notable impeachment of state officials occurred in 2018, with the West Virginia Court of Appeals judges impeached due to excessive spending. These impeachment trials have not fully concluded as of early 2019.<ref>For more on these recent cases, see: Tseng, M. (2018). <i>The Politics of Impeachment</i>. Westphalia Press.</ref>
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