White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday the Biden administration stands by House Democrats’ effort to overturn the results of an Iowa House race. After multiple recounts, the race has already been certified by bipartisan state election officials.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave her blessing to the House Administration Committee taking up failed candidate Rita Hart’s plea to overturn the results of Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District race captured by freshman Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks by six votes.
“Four Republican senators in a letter to corporations are calling the battle for Democrats to take back the seat, an ‘unacceptable attempt to undermine a legitimate Democratic process,'” a reporter pressed during a White House press briefing. “Does the president agree with their assessment?”
“I believe that the process that is outlined by the House of Representatives is what’s being followed here to ensure every vote is counted, so no, he wouldn’t agree with that,” Psaki said.
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Hart triggered the process with a direct appeal to the lower chamber to overturn the results bypassing state avenues for contesting a race last fall.
Pelosi at first conceded the election certified by bipartisan officials to Republicans by choosing to seat Miller-Meeks with the rest of the 117th Congress in January. The House speaker even sent the newly-elected representative a flag flown over the Capitol to celebrate the narrow triumph.
As a 24-year military veteran, I am especially honored and humbled to receive this flag flown over the U.S. Capitol on the day I was sworn in to serve the people of Iowa’s Second Congressional District. #IA02 pic.twitter.com/kyhKgrwgQa
— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) March 18, 2021
But several months into the new legislative session, Pelosi appears to have changed course as she presides over the weakest majority of her speakership with just an eight-seat advantage over Republicans.
“It’s just six votes,” the House speaker shrugged on ABC’s “This Week” earlier this month when challenged on the hypocrisy of contesting election results.
https://twitter.com/MikeKBerg/status/1371110057472036864?s=20
Hart’s challenge rests upon 22 ballots her campaign claims were improperly rejected by state officials and would declare Hart the winner by a nine-point margin if counted. At least 20 of the ballots, however, were marked invalid under Iowa law by a bipartisan board.
