GOP senators up for re-election are noticeably avoiding interviews as impeachment talk grows

There's another I-word Republican senators are staying away from: interviews.

As the impeachment inquiry into President Trump presses forward, GOP senators have faced inevitable questions of whether they support the investigation. Some Republicans have vocally opposed the measure, but others, namely those expecting a tough re-election next year, have avoided answering altogether, The New York Times reports.

On Thursday, Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced a measure condemning the House's impeachment inquiry and telling the House it needs to formally vote to proceed. The measure doesn't oppose the impeachment proceedings outright, and there's a reason for that: It was orchestrated so Republicans can show their base they're backing Trump "even as they refrained from defending his actions," the Times writes.

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Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) is among those supporting the measure, but she's not bucking impeachment altogether. The governor-appointed senator is facing a remarkably well-funded Democratic opponent in Mark Kelly, and pivoted from impeachment questions to health care when confronted by reporters recently, the Times says. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) did the same, while Sen. Cory Gardner (D-Colo.), who has been challenged by a bevvy of well-known Democrats, walked away from an interview altogether when the question turned to impeachment. And Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who's had weak re-election chances since she backed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, has spun by saying she doesn't want to "jeopardize her impartiality as a juror" if Trump's impeachment reaches a Senate trial, the Times explains.