Bicameral Group Sends Letter to Pelosi Expressing Outrage Over Effort to Overturn Iowa Election

A letter sent Tuesday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was signed by 124 members of the House and Senate who expressed outrage over her hypocritical efforts to overturn Iowa’s Second Congressional District election.

The lawmakers criticized her activities to undermine the Iowa voters by choosing Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) to represent the Second Congressional District. They stated “Iowans made their choice known at the ballot box” and the voters have had their ballots “counted, recounted, and certified in a bipartisan manner.”

The bicameral group reiterated that they “stand firmly with the American people of Iowa’s Second Congressional District – whose right and will it is for her to serve as their elected Representative in Congress.”

The group continued:

Furthermore, we are astounded by your hypocrisy as the Speaker to support an investigation into this free and fair election while simultaneously claiming voter fraud does not exist nationally. If election security concerns are unwarranted, as you claim, then there is certainly no reason for the Committee on House Administration to be moving forward with such an outrageous request to unseat the legitimately elected Congresswoman. Indeed, Iowa prides itself on having safe and secure elections, and the state itself has not indicated in any way that it has questions about its November 2020 election. Were the state to have concerns even after the extensive recounts, it is more than capable of evaluating the election it conducted.

Also, the group mentioned Miller-Meek’s opponent, Rita Hart, “does not have a case to make.” The Hart Campaign never tried to “legal remedy in the judicial system” from the Iowa court. They further argued if Hart had a case to make “about who won the election, the courts would be involved.”

As it stands, Congresswoman Miller-Meeks’s failed opponent not only lost; she lost in such a clean race that the Hart Campaign did not even attempt to seek the legal remedy in the judicial system, as provided under Iowa law. This failure to follow through with the statutorily provided process to have any claims evaluated before an independent panel of judges underscores that the Hart Campaign does not have a case to make. If this were truly about who won the election, the courts would be involved – the courts have been thrust aside, not even consulted. This matter should be left to independent judges, not partisan politicians. This is not about what the American people want; this is about what you want.

The fact that you are willing to overturn an election for your own political expediency is astonishing, disheartening, and sickening. Additionally, you, Madam Speaker, sent a letter to Congresswoman Miller-Meeks on January 3, 2021, congratulating her on her “election as a Member of the 117th Congress.” In addition to being profoundly hypocritical, this is morally reprehensible. There is no cause to question the voters of Iowa; there is no legitimate reason to open an investigation into a certified election outcome you do not like.

“We swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States,” the members wrote in the letter.

The group also brought up the letter the Speaker wrote to Miller-Meeks when she was sworn in. “Of the great and humbling responsibility it is to serve our constituents as Members of the House of Representatives,” the members wrote, reminding Pelosi to, “expect the same from the Speaker.”

“We call on you to stop this power grab and respect Iowans’ decision to elect Congresswoman Miller-Meeks,” the group finished.