WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives are warning Democrats not to set a “dangerous precedent” by challenging the certified results of a disputed House election in Iowa.
Republican Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Democrat Rita Hart in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District by only six votes out of nearly 400,000 cast. State election officials certified the results and Miller-Meeks was sworn into office in January.
But Hart has petitioned the Democratic-controlled House to intervene, claiming that 22 votes were improperly excluded. The House Administration Committee, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by six to three, has launched an investigation.
Nine of the 10 Republicans who voted in January to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection drew a strong parallel between the Iowa election and the certified presidential election results that Trump contested in the weeks leading up to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“This action not only sets a dangerous precedent for future elections, it reinforces the false belief by many in our country that our election system is rigged and that certain politicians can change results to fit their whims,” the Republicans wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dated March 19.
Pelosi’s office was not immediately available for comment.
The letter was signed by Representatives Fred Upton; Liz Cheney, who chairs the House Republican Conference; Jaime Herrera Beutler; Adam Kinzinger; John Katko; Dan Newhouse; Anthony Gonzalez; David Valadao; and Peter Meijer.
The Republicans said that backing the Republican president’s impeachment was not an easy vote politically “but the right thing to do” because “the integrity of the election system was being attacked and trust in it was being eroded with disastrous consequences.”
Representative Tom Rice, the 10th Republican lawmaker who backed impeachment, did not sign the letter. His office was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
