More Dems oppose Nancy Pelosi and Rita Hart's bid to overturn Iowa election results: 'Remarkably hypocritical'
While the country remained glued to the outcome of the presidential election last November followed by the Senate run-off elections in January that decided the composition of the upper chamber in the era of the Joe Biden presidency, one thriller of an election remained largely overshadowed. But now, the unbelievably close result of the House election in Iowa’s second congressional district has come back to claim the headlines. In that election, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Democrat Rita Hart by only six votes and now, the latter is pushing the Congress to overturn the results.
However, the 65-year-old leader’s campaign to reverse the results has not gone down well with many within her own party. It was the same Democratic Party that had stood up against former president Donald Trump after he launched a similar drive along with his close allies to overturn the results of the presidential election that he lost decisively against Biden. Trump and his associates not only moved courts to seek a reversal of the results but the Republican was even impeached by the Democrat-controlled House in January on charges of inciting an insurrection on January 6 when his supporters stormed the Capitol Hill building to protest the Congress confirming Biden’s victory.
Hart, who on December 2 announced that she would contest the election with the House Administration Committee, claims that she found 22 uncounted ballots which would seal the victory in her favor. Her opponent Miller-Meeks took office in January succeeding Democrat Dave Loebsack who served from the district for 14 years before deciding not to seek re-election. On March 10, the committee voted 6-3 in favor of considering Hart’s challenge and table a motion by Miller-Meeks to dismiss the Democrat’s challenge. With neither of the sides ready to give up, the dispute now looks to be one that could drag on.
Pelosi downplays Dems' objection against reversing results
The uneasiness in the Democratic Party has increased with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, March 25, downplaying concerns expressed by the party’s centrist members who warned the leadership against potentially reversing the election result in Iowa. According to Pelosi, the House can adjudicate contested elections, especially when they are as close as seen in the Hawkeye State and counter-asked those who are critical of the idea of reviewing the result how they would react if their own races were that close.
“I would say to them, if you lost by six votes, would you like to bring your case before that?” Pelosi said when asked by a reporter about centrists publicly speaking out against potentially reversing the election result. The California lawmaker also said that she could have refused to seat Miller-Meeks had she been unfair but did not do it despite some Democrats encouraging her. Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds slammed Pelosi’s stance on overturning the results, saying it was a “partisan power grab”.
Even Pelosi’s own party members were not convinced by her stance on the controversy. Minnesota Democratic Representative Dean Phillips said while it is true that losing a House election by just six votes is painful for the Dems, overturning the results would have been “more painful for America”. “Just because a majority can, does not mean a majority should,” he tweeted.
Losing a House election by six votes is painful for Democrats. But overturning it in the House would be even more painful for America. Just because a majority can, does not mean a majority should. https://t.co/pXaOYBIMue
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) March 22, 2021
Michigan Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin also made clear that she is not for Pelosi’s push to decertify Miller-Meeks’s win. “I cannot support overturning an election, especially given everything that’s gone on and what we’ve been hearing from the Republican side of the aisle,” she said on ‘Skullduggery’ podcast, adding the GOP “attempted to delegitimize the results of the [presidential] election and ... in the case of the [Jan. 6] protesters ... to use violence to stop us from certifying an election. I can’t turn around and vote to decertify something that’s been stamped and approved in Iowa.” Slotkin is the chair of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism.
'It's time to move on'
New Hampshire Representative Chris Pappas, who also had a narrow re-election bid last November, said in a statement to Fox News on Monday, March 22, that it was time to move on. "This election result was certified by the State of Iowa and Rep. Miller-Meeks was sworn in nearly three months ago," Pappas said, adding: “As I said when Republicans challenged the Electoral College votes on January 6th, the election is over and it’s time to move on.”
Susan Wild, a Democratic House member from Pennsylvania, also spoke against the idea of reversing the election result. “I have said before, in connection with the 2020 presidential election, legislators should be heeding states’ certifications of their elections. Unless there is rampant error and substantial evidence thereof, I do not believe it is the role of House members to dictate the outcome of elections,” she told reporters this week.
It would be hypocritical, warns centrist Dems
The centrist wing of the Democratic Party has warned that it would be hypocritical on the behalf of the party if it reverses the results in Iowa in Hart’s favor especially after criticizing Trump over his unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was compromised and its outcomes should be reversed.
“It strikes me as remarkably hypocritical and a dangerous precedent at a time we need to be repairing precedents,” a moderate Democrat was quoted by The Hill as saying on Monday.
Miller-Meeks, meanwhile, defended her razor-thin victory over Hart and said there should be an outrage over whatever is happening in the House centering around her win. In an interview with Fox News, the former Iowa Senate member said: “Everybody across the country should be outraged by this. I certainly have been encouraged by those people across the country who have reached out to me and told me they’re contacting their representatives to let them know their displeasure.”
Hart, too, has served as a member of the Iowa Senate, though her tenure ended the same day Miller-Meeks’s started -- January 14, 2019.