MENDHAM – To an interview in a coffee shop about his long-shot chance to beat Mikie Sherrill in next year’s Democratic primary, Mark Washburne brought a book.

Not just any book, but one he wrote about Elihu Benjamin Washburne, a distant relative and a member of Congress during the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

You can easily see the connection here.

Washburne, a Mendham resident and a professor at County College of Morris, plans to challenge Sherrill over one issue – impeaching Donald Trump.

“I would give Mikie a pass on every other issue,” Washburne, 63, said last week.

Some may recall that Washburne sought the Democratic nod for Congress in District 11 last year. He raised virtually no money and had no realistic chance. Still, he got to go to some of the campaign forums.

He still doesn’t like the idea of big money in politics, but late last week Washburne sent out a message crowing about receiving his first contribution, a small donation from a district resident identified only as “Matthew.”

Washburne sees impeachment as not just a political act, but something that’s about the future of the country.

“For me, this is going to define our generation,” he said.

Washburne explained that some of his students think it’s perfectly fine for a president to lie.

That’s unfortunate, but as Washburne fully knows, there is nothing unique about a politician “lying.”

But as many Democrats and Trump critics point out, the president’s lies reach epic, if not ludicrous, proportions.

One can go back to his first day on the job when Trump ordered his then-press secretary to lie about the size of the inaugural crowd to a few weeks ago when the president tried to convince the public a doctored weather map (of all things) was real.

While Sherrill is well funded and seems enormously popular among Democrats, her refusal so far to support impeachment can hurt her down the road with the party’s base.

Washburne says his primary campaign goal is to bring attention to impeaching Trump.  That may be already happening.

Impeachment talk was a big deal as New Jersey’s Democratic members of Congress held town-hall meetings over the August recess. And such talk is bound to ratchet up even more with the news that Trump apparently asked the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, arguably his principal rival.

Responding to this on her Facebook page, Sherrill wrote that, “I have spoken to members of leadership about my concerns with this conduct and Chairman (Adam) Schiff will hold an intelligence committee hearing with the Director of National Intelligence on Thursday. The DNI should be ready to discuss these allegations in full and provide – as legally mandated – the contents of the whistle-blower complaint  …”

That stance is not pleasing all. One prominent post says Sherrill should explain why she is “not” backing impeachment.

Washburne, who says many Democrats and people on the left, are frustrated by the current state of affairs, sees impeachment – no matter what happens in the Senate – as a positive thing.

“No one is going to feel sorry for this guy,” Washburne said of Trump.