I have been contemplating writing this one for a little bit. And I decided today is the day.
Before I get too far down the road on this, I want to make perfectly clear that I am not advocating for Congress to overturn any state-certified election in any congressional district.
I do not think it is wise or right for Democrats to overturn Iowa’s Second Congressional District’s election from 2020. In fact, I think it is wrong and the height of hypocrisy.
Sitting by and watching the Democrats reverse the result will establish a dangerous precedent and give power over a congressional district to D.C. rather than voters in the district itself.
OK, all that said, I also want to offer a little different perspective than what you’ll read from most conservatives.
If you remember, Iowa was one of only two states — TWO STATES — that has multiple Republicans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives yet did not have a single Republican vote to object to the presidential election results.
The only other state was Washington State. And no, Washington State does not also have Republican U.S. Senators.
I came to one conclusion about why none of the GOP members of the U.S. House or U.S. Senate voted to object to the presidential election results — the situation in Iowa’s Second Congressional District.
My belief is that Iowa Republicans didn’t want to risk appearing hypocritical when they bashed Democrats for even thinking about overturning the race between Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Rita Hart.
I don’t think the two situations are the same, but I don’t think the elected Republicans from Iowa in Congress agree.
In fact, I can tell our readers that one of the GOP members of Iowa’s congressional delegation told me they “yes, there was fraud” in the presidential election. They told me this after — AFTER — voting to certify the presidential election results.
Now, let me get into the details of the situation at hand here in Iowa’s Second District.
The seat currently held by Miller-Meeks is one out of 435. In the grand scheme of things, whether the seat is controlled by a Republican or a Democrat is pretty irrelevant. Democrats will still control the U.S. House of Representatives either way.
Compared to, say, the presidential election, where it is literally a one out of one scenario, I’d much rather have had a 10-day audit of the vote than one more member in the GOP minority in D.C.
I can also say that Miller-Meeks was one of 25 Republicans who attended a “summit” in Salt Lake City a couple of weeks ago to talk about positioning themselves to address climate change in the new Congress.
The Washington Examiner reported Miller-Meeks was one of the members who attended and the meeting was intended to overhaul the GOP’s climate change platform and messaging to compete with Democrats.
“House Republicans are also responding to polls over the last few years that have shown the party is vulnerable among young and suburban voters concerned about the environment and climate change,” the Washington Examiner reported.
We reached out to the office of Miller-Meeks about the situation but did not hear back.
We also saw yesterday that Miller-Meeks said the Biden Border Crisis is “not a new problem.” And she said there is a willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion on legislation that includes border security as well as a path for Dreamers.
We also had this tweet sent to us from a source. It is a retweet of Hillary Clinton’s, but it was “liked” on Twitter by Austin Harris. Harris served as the campaign manager for Miller-Meeks and is her deputy chief of staff in D.C.
Clinton had retweeted her tweet from June 9, 2016, suggesting President Donald J. Trump delete his account. She posted a checkmark shortly after Twitter removed him. Harris “liked” the tweet.
Again, we reached out to Harris for an explanation. And again, we never heard anything.
But even during the primary season, we noted that Miller-Meeks was extremely critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign.
When Miller-Meeks was asked if she believed Trump was fit to be President, she responded:
“As fit as Hillary Clinton. Both liars & corrupt. He did it legally, she broke laws, used government position & hurt national security.”
That tweet came one month before the election.
Now, during the primary and general elections, Miller-Meeks campaign as an ally for President Trump.
But on Jan. 6, when push came to shove, she was one of the Republicans who refused to object to the presidential election results.
This despite the fact that Miller-Meeks told the Quad-City Times there was fraud in the presidential election, there were irregularities and there were states that did not follow their state law and/or election officials who violated state law.
She said all of those things were true, but she still voted to certify the results.
Miller-Meeks was also highlighted by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene last week as one of 40 Republicans who “put their personal schedules ahead of the wishes of the People who put them in office.”
Greene put forth a motion to adjourn prior to voting on the COVID relief bill but Democrats, along with 40 Republicans, voted against it. Greene said:
“These Republican votes are the 40 white flags of the Surrender Caucus.”
Ouch.
We also know that Miller-Meeks voted for Congresswoman Liz Cheney to retain her position in leadership.
All of that is true. All of it.
I am sure if I spent more time looking into things I could find more things that would churn the stomach of any conservative.
But here is the “next step” we have to ask ourselves.
If Democrats did overturn the election results in Iowa’s Second Congressional District, do we really believe they’ll be rewarded — especially here in Iowa — in 2022?
It seems such a move would upset Iowans across the board. Maybe not Democrats so much, but I have a hard time believing Independents in Iowa are going to embrace Washington D.C. electing their congressional representatives rather than Iowans.
How 2022 will go in Iowa remains anyone’s best guess seeing as President Trump won’t be on the ballot. So the GOP success of 2020 is not guaranteed to be repeated in 2022.
This scenario, if the Democrats in D.C. actually undermine the will of Iowans in the Second District, will really upset people. Such an action could go a long way in determining whether or not Cindy Axne is re-elected in Iowa’s Third District.
I am not comfortable with Congress interfering in Iowa’s congressional elections. I think it is wrong and uncalled for.
But I’m not necessarily willing to go the extra mile to go to bat for a candidate who didn’t go to bat for us on Jan. 6 and has a history of “moderate” views.
So, do I want Congressional Democrats to replace Miller-Meeks with Hart? No. Unequivocally no.
Will all be lost if they do? No.
Put more simply — and perhaps much more bluntly — Iowa’s Republicans in Congress did not stand for President Trump or conservatives on Jan. 6. That makes it really hard to get revved up for them in this battle.
