“I hated that it came to that,” he said. “We did not have answers …. We have a dead border guard. We have a program that didn’t work. We have guns that are still missing. And we need answers.”

McIntyre, of Lumberton, is also running in a more Republican district. He said the vote on Holder was about getting to the bottom of the case, not party politics. “A law enforcement officer lost his life,” he said. “His family and we all want answers as to what went wrong and how this tragedy happened.”

One group pressuring members of Congress to vote for contempt: the National Rifle Association.

The gun-rights group had put lawmakers on notice that the vote would factor into the scorecard that determines its endorsements, and financial help.

“We told members of Congress that we were going to score the contempt vote because we want the truth out,” spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said Monday.

Kissell, who has gotten $11,900 from the NRA’s political action committee, said the group did not influence his decision.

Some analysts say Kissell’s votes against Holder and health care should help him with independents and even Republican voters.

“Neither Larry Kissell nor Mike McIntyre will be the deciding vote on any of these votes,” said David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. “Republicans can pass whatever they want through the House. … What (Kissell) needs are Republican cross-over support. The only way you get that is by bucking your own party.”

On health care, Kissell explained why he plans to vote for repeal on July 11. “Constitutional or not, the health care bill cut Medicare and placed undue burdens on our small businesses,” he said.

Republicans Scott Keadle and Richard Hudson, who meet July 17 in an 8th District runoff, both point to a January vote where Kissell voted against repealing the health care law.

“This law is not perfect,” Kissell said at the time. “We have a choice: we can look backward and have the same fight all over again, or we can move forward determined to make things better and focus on our economy. I choose to look forward and work to make things better.”