Democrat House Leadership Struggles With Messaging on Overturning Iowa House Race

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 04: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) listens as constitutional scholars t
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House Democrat Leadership is struggling to contain their members’ concerns over objecting to a certified Iowa House race.

Breitbart News reported last week the House Administration Committee, chaired by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), is pushing to overturn the election in Iowa’s Second Congressional District. Democrat Rita Hart, who lost the election to Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), claims there were still 22 legal ballots to be counted after the election was certified. “The American people deserve to know who actually won this election,” Lofgren (pictured) said.

Last week, Miller-Meeks told Breitbart News Sunday“They are disenfranchising 400,000 voters. … They are disenfranchising all of these voters by this process.”

The Politico Playbook reported Monday morning the effort to oust the Iowa congresswoman has been “blessed by the top echelons of House Democratic leadership.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has brought in their election lawyer Marc Elias and is paying for the legal fees that accompany the process, showing the Democrats are willing to go as far as it takes to overturn the election. “Federal law provides that this contest is the proper avenue to ensure that all legal ballots are counted, and we have presented credible evidence to support their inclusion in the final tally,” Elias said in a statement provided to Politico by the DCCC.

Elias has represented Democrats as an attorney in multiple election lawsuits during the months after the November election.

As grievously reported by Breitbart News, Elias helped fund the fraudulent “Russia dossier” in the 2016 election. He was also the Democrats’ lead lawyer in the 2020 election, suing in several states to overturn existing election laws and rules.

News outlets, along with Democrat House members, are starting to trickle out of the pack to cast doubt on trying to overturn the election with a House vote.

Dave Wasserman, editor of the Cook Political Report, recently tweeted, “I haven’t talked to a House D who thinks there’s the slightest chance the House will vote to overturn the certified results in #IA02.” Adding that, “of the two Dems who fell short by infinitesimal margins in certified House race results (Rita Hart in #IA02 and Anthony Brindisi in #NY22), only Brindisi is behaving like someone who wants to win an election in the future.”

Washington Post congressional reporter Paul Kane also tweeted, “Pelosi & her leadership team have a lot of work to do internally if they think they can overturn the Iowa House race. Phillips often speaks for a group of the Class of 2018.”

The Washington Post editorial board wrote, “House Democrats should keep their distance. Iowa’s bipartisan election process certified the results. Barring truly egregious errors, a partisan House majority should not reverse them.”

Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips (NM) added “Losing a House election by six votes is painful for Democrats.” He pointed out the Democrats in the majority had the ability to overturn the election, but warned such a move would be harmful to the country. “But overturning it in the House would be even more painful for America. Just because the majority can, does not mean a majority should,” he said.

More Democrat Members of Congress have weighed in:

Democrat Rep. Lou Correa (CA) told CNN last week, “I want to see what compelling reasons there are for the feds to get involved in this. I think these are issues that right now are probably best left at the state level.”

Democrat Rep. Dan Kildee (MI) told the Wall Street Journal last week, “unless we see compelling evidence that there’s something seriously wrong, then we should defer to state and local officials.”

Democrat Rep. David Price (NC) told Fox News’ Fox News Sunday, “I have confidence that all sides of that House Administration Committee process are well aware of how sensitive and how difficult this is.”

Mike Berg, the deputy communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) released a statement saying, “This entire process is a brazen attempt to overturn the will of Iowa voters and election officials. Every Democrat should be calling on Nancy Pelosi to call off this partisan sham.”

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) berated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the Senate floor for looking to “overturn a state-certified election” in the House.

McConnell reiterated Miller-Meeks won her race by six votes and was sworn into office in January with the House members’ newest class. “Two months ago, every Democrat, cable news channel, and every liberal news channel was melting down over some Republicans’ efforts to dispute state-certified election results here in congress. I opposed those efforts myself,” McConnell explained.

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