Congressional Republicans are strongly pushing back against a House investigation into the results of the narrow race for Iowa’s 2nd District, which was won by Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks by just six votes out of 400,000.
The House Administration Committee has launched a probe into the election after Democrat Rita Hart claimed that there were 22 legally cast ballots that were not counted which could change the outcome of the election.
Hart did not contest the election in court. Instead, she took the rare step of asking the House, which has the jurisdiction to handle such allegations, to investigate the election and overturn the results.
Republicans are not the only ones opposed to the idea.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) tweeted on Monday, “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,” he added.
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
Phillip’s re-tweeted a link to Politico’s “Playbook” newsletter that said the effort to overturn the election has “been blessed by the top echelons of House Democratic leadership.”
Democrats currently have a razor-thin 219-211 majority in the House and overturning the result of the Iowa race would slightly expand their majority.
While Republicans have questioned why Hart did not take her claims to court, her allies argue that she did not have time to contest the election before the state certified the results.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters earlier this month that “of course” there is a chance the chamber could move to overturn the results.
She also blasted Republicans who supported former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election while objecting to the push to investigate and potentially overturn the House race.
“For them to call anybody hypocritical about elections when two-thirds of them voted against accepting the presidency of Joe Biden — well, it’s just who they are,” she said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”