Several Republican members of Alabama’s congressional delegation and Secretary of State John Merrill have come out strongly against the U.S. House of Representatives potentially overriding the results of a state-certified election in Iowa.
The election in question was the 2020 race to represent Iowa’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House. In that contest, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Democrat Rita Hart. After multiple recounts, the bipartisan Iowa Board of Canvass certified Miller-Meeks’ victory.
According to the final results, Miller-Meeks won by six votes out of around 394,000 that were cast in the election.
However, the U.S. House of Representatives, as designed by the U.S. Constitution, has the right to judge “the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.”
Based on that provision, Democrat candidate Rita Hart has launched a plea for the House to overturn the state-sanctioned election result.
The effort is currently being considered by the House Administration Committee.
Politico, a Washington, D.C.-based outlet that focuses on national politics, reported on March 22 that “the effort to oust Miller-Meeks in favor of Hart has been blessed by the top echelons of House Democratic leadership.”
The publication also noted that House Administration Chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
U.S. Reps Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), Jerry Carl (R-Mobile), Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) joined Secretary of State Merrill in sending a letter to Pelosi this week that strongly protests against consideration of Hart’s case.
“As elected officials in the great state of Alabama, sworn to uphold the law and ensure the security of our elections, we believe that removing a sitting Congresswoman and replacing her through a purely political process would create a dangerous precedent with disastrous long-term results,” the letter reads.
The correspondence was led by Moore. Merrill is the Yellowhammer State’s chief elections official.
“[W]e ask that you do not rob Congresswoman Miller-Meeks of her hard-earned opportunity to serve the people of Iowa’s Second Congressional District,” the elected officials add.
Brooks further criticized Pelosi in a statement, railing against what he sees as the speaker’s “craven lust for political power.”
Notably, several moderate Democrats have voiced their displeasure at the idea of overturning the Iowa election, with one telling The Hill it would be “remarkably hypocritical.”
Even a small number of Democrat defections would make a potential override of the Iowa results impossible. The Democratic Party currently has only an eight-seat majority in the House.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) previously signed on to a March 23 letter along the same lines as the one from his fellow House members sent this week. The letter signed by Rogers attacked Pelosi, saying, “The fact that you are willing to overturn an election for your own political expediency is astonishing, disheartening, and sickening.”
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
