December 8, 2020

Will House Dems Overturn Two GOP Wins?

A sore-losing Iowa incumbent calls for the House to overturn her narrow election loss.

Much of the nation is still focused on the outcome of the presidential election, with Donald Trump and his legal team alleging widespread voter fraud, and Democrats and their mainstream media brethren deriding him for having refused to concede while they falsely claim a fraud-free election.

In two razor-thin House races, however — one in Iowa and the other in New York — the Republican candidates have been certified as winners only to have the Democrats challenge the results, though thus far to no avail.

In Iowa, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks beat Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes out of 390,000 cast. After two weeks of haggling and the canvassing and re-canvassing of the votes, Iowa’s state legislature on Monday certified Miller-Meeks, flipping yet another seat Democrats had previously held. But Hart, refusing to concede, has instead elected to play dirty. She’s calling on House Democrats to dust off a controversial 1969 statute last used 35 years ago. Essentially, Hart wants the Committee on House Administration to apply the statute so her Democrat colleagues can override the will of Iowa’s voters.

The Supreme Court has held that the House, not the courts, has the final say on its members’ elections under the Constitution’s Article I. The goal of Congresswoman Hart and her lawyers, then, would be to cast enough doubt on the outcome to provide sufficient cover for overturning it.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board highlighted the most recent use of the statute, noting, “House Democrats in 1985 took advantage of the same process to reverse Indiana’s state certification of a Republican winner in a Congressional race. They refused to seat either candidate in January, and in May declared the Democrat the winner after their recount excluded 32 absentee votes.”

Meanwhile, in New York’s 22nd District, Republican Claudia Tenney has beaten Democrat incumbent Anthony Brindisi in the preliminary final count. Tenney’s lead is a tenuous 12 votes, but Brindisi’s lawyers have asked the courts to review the county election board’s decision on certain disputed ballots. Failing that, Brindisi might make the same request of House Democrats that Iowa’s Hart is making.

If these two wins hold up, the Republicans will have gained 12 House seats. This leaves the Democrats with a slim nine-seat majority, and this after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and company were predicting a gain of that many seats themselves. Gone is any perceived mandate for Pelosi. The question is whether House Democrats will give in to their worst political instincts and find a way to seat their fellow Democrats instead of the apparently rightful Republican winners.

Would Pelosi seek to justify such a blatantly partisan power grab by pointing to Trump’s legal challenges of the presidential election? The 117th Congress will be seated on January 3. Until then, sadly, anything is possible.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.