Is Nancy Pelosi Trying to Steal a House Seat from the GOP?

By anyone’s account, last year’s congressional race in Iowa’s 2nd district was a squeaker. Republican Marianette Miller-Meeks triumphed over Rita Hart, her Democrat opponent, by a mere six votes, with Miller-Meeks ultimately being sworn in, on a provisional basis, with the rest of the 117th Congress this past January.

End of story, right? Not so fast.

Rita Hart, emboldened by Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats, is refusing to accept defeat, despite multiple recounts and certification by Iowa state election officials. Hart has instead decided to make the unprecedented and blatantly political move of bringing her challenge directly to the House of Representatives, completely bypassing Iowa’s systems for challenging election results.

On March 10, the Democrat-run House Administration Committee agreed to hear Hart’s case, ignoring Miller-Meeks’ argument that Hart “failed to exhaust state judicial procedures before filing her notice of contest with the House.” The committee has now positioned itself to decide who should hold the seat: the rightful, certified winner or the sore loser whose vote they desperately need. When you hold a slim majority, as the Democrats do by a scant nine seats, rule of law and will of the voters are minor considerations.

Hart’s case is weak, not that it matters. Both Republican and Democrat representatives, along with some registered independents, were allowed to monitor the recount process. Hart and her campaign approved the people selected to participate in the recount. From all appearances, the recount and subsequent certification were transparent and fair, but she still cries foul. 

Nancy Pelosi, who mocked Donald Trump’s efforts to call for recounts in the weeks following the presidential election, has a lot riding on the outcome. When questioned Sunday by “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos on why she would investigate an election that was already certified by the state, Pelosi feebly responded, “Well, it was six votes.” Her grip on the Speaker’s gavel is tenuous and one extra vote in her caucus is worth disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Iowa voters.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg told Fox News in a statement: “Rita Hart and Speaker Pelosi are trying to subvert Democracy and I look forward to all Democrat members condemning this partisan stunt.” 

This is unlikely to happen, meaning Marianette Miller-Meeks is in the fight of her life. She told Fox News:

“What my opponent wants to do is to violate Iowa law, to go against Iowa law, and go against the representation of the voters of Iowa, and disenfranchise 400,000 voters.”

Democracy is under attack in America. Voters do not trust that their votes count or that the election process is fair, and the mis-named Democratic Party seems intent on proving them correct. Stephanopoulis is the rare mainstream media figure to question the Democrats and their motives in trying to steal a congressional seat, a story that should be receiving ample airtime and column inches. Miller-Meeks is spot on when she says: “Everybody across the country should be outraged by this.”

Teri Christoph is editor of Fierce, a weekly newsletter about conservative women and politics.

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