Bipartisan duo asks House members to pledge they won't block winners from taking their seats
By Louise Radnofsky
WASHINGTON -- Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans have grown increasingly anxious that the current GOP-controlled Congress could thwart the seating of Democrats in January. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to take the tactic off the table.
Reps. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, and Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, are seeking written pledges from their colleagues to accept the midterm-election results. The effort follows months of claims by President Trump that some states' voting practices are vulnerable to fraud.
They are asking lawmakers to sign a public letter "opposing efforts to undermine free and fair elections or override the will of the voters, including any attempt to refuse or delay the seating of any Member-elect who presents a validly issued election certificate."
The goal, they say, is to get enough signatories to head off any prospect that the current House of Representatives would even contemplate parliamentary maneuvers to block their successors from taking over.
"I was in the House chamber on January 6, when the doors were barricaded and members were forced to evacuate," said Gottheimer. "Given our experiences of late, I think it's worth taking this extra measure."
Bacon said this almost became an issue several years ago when some Democrats considered objections to an Iowa Republican after the state said she won her seat by six votes.
"We've seen before how this norm can come under strain," said Bacon, who isn't seeking re-election. "That is why it's important to put down a clear, bipartisan marker that we follow state certifications, seat certified winners and preserve trust in the institution."
Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania have also signed the letter, their offices confirmed. That gives the effort a likely majority if all House Democrats throw their support behind it. Both men are in close re-election contests.
The Trump administration has pushed to expand federal control over elections, setting up repeated clashes with states, which hold primary authority to run elections within their borders as they see fit.
Earlier this year, the Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank, published commentary arguing that Republican congressional leaders aren't obligated to immediately accept the states' results if they think they aren't accurate or fair, citing a constitutional provision that gives each chamber the power to be the "judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members."
"Congress could deny representation to states without voter identification laws or those that wink at foreign nationals voting in their elections. Or Congress could require new elections when voting rolls are not properly purged," wrote Scott Yenor, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
The Heritage Foundation didn't comment or make Yenor available for an interview.
The lawmakers' letter is addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.).
In the letter, signatories also commit to "recognizing the election winners certified by each state pursuant to that state's law" and "supporting the right of each state's certified winners to be added to the House Clerk's roll on the first day of the 120th Congress in January 2027, as required by federal law."
Jeffries recently told reporters: "We're doing everything necessary to ensure that the results of the November 3rd election are brought to life when the new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd."
Johnson's office didn't respond to requests for comment.
Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller said scenarios in which Republicans could deploy procedural maneuvers to deny Democrats the ability to become the majority in the House were unlikely, particularly if the election results aren't close.
"These are extraordinary, bordering on outlandish, hypotheticals and regular order will almost certainly prevail in the House," Muller said.
The House has at times refused to seat elected representatives certified by their states, with skirmishes in the 19th and early 20th centuries involving Southern Democrats and Utah Mormons.
More recently, a late 1960s House fight over scandal-plagued New York Democrat Adam Clayton Powell Jr. resulted in the Supreme Court placing restrictions on the circumstances in which election winners could be excluded.