Top House Democrats won’t say for certain if they will certify the results of the 2024 presidential election if former President Donald Trump beats Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a new report.
Some of these members, including those who objected to Trump electors in 2017, signaled to Axios that Trump may cause issues with the vote that would give them pause.
Democrats would certify a Trump victory “assuming everything goes the way we expect it to,” said Jim McGovern (D-MA), the ranking member of the Rules Committee.
“We have to see how it all happens,” McGovern said. “My expectation is that we would.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a senior House Democratic chief deputy whip, told the outlet that she did not know what kind of “shenanigans” Trump is planning.
“We would have to, in any election … make sure that all the rules have been followed,” she said.
Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who served on the former January 6 panel, suggested Trump may resort to “manipulating” counts in some states.
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Trump “is doing whatever he can to try to interfere with the process,” Raskin said, adding he “definitely” does not assume a victory by the former president would be legitimate.
He insisted: “Democrats don’t engage in election fraud and election fabrication.”
There are also Republicans, including Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who have said they would accept the results of the 2024 election if the contest is “fair” and “honest.”
But Harris and her allies have made a big deal about casting Trump as a “threat” to democracy after some GOP opposition to the last election’s results and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
That at least a handful of Democrats might now lean back into a long tradition of lawmakers trying — in vain — to object to Electoral College votes prompted some ridicule from the Right on social media.
“It’s (D)ifferent,” quipped the popular Comfortably Smug account on X. Mike Davis, a former Senate staffer who now leads the Article III Project, blared, “‘Insurrection!’”
Axios noted that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) signaled during a September press conference that he would use his influence to dissuade an organized effort against certification.
“House Democrats are going to do everything necessary to … ensure that the winner of the presidential election is certified on January 6th without drama or consequences,” he said.
After her earlier comments, Schakowsky said in a statement she was “proud to … join all my Democratic colleagues in certifying the 2020 election” and looks forward to “doing the same in January 2025.”
