The Constitution and Conservative Principles Guide Me

I released the following statement yesterday:

I am proud to have worked side-by-side with President Trump to enact historic tax reform, free and fair trade with Mexico and Canada, the repeal of the ObamaCare mandate and taxes, a ban on surprise medical bills, and the first reform of the IRS in two decades. His policy achievements have lifted working families across America. 

Distrust in America’s election system has been growing for two decades and is only growing worse. That is the true threat to democracy. For that reason, I gave unwavering support for President Trump to pursue all legal avenues and investigations. On December 10, 2020, I joined 125 of my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives in signing the Amicus Brief to the Texas petition to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Texas suit presented election irregularities and advocated the Court hold states accountable for following their own election laws. Unfortunately, the Court refused to review the case. 

Due to a Covid diagnosis I am unable to participate in today’s proceedings in the U.S. House. If I were, I would remain true to the conservative Constitutional principles of states’ rights, limited Congressional power over presidential elections, and the Electoral College by accepting the Electoral College votes as legally certified by each state.

Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment are clear. As angry as we may be about this election, we do even more harm if we weaken the Constitution, allow Congress to seize more power to choose future presidents, and undermine the Electoral College. 

If either party in Congress can simply ignore the elected slate of a state for political reasons, aren’t we replacing 150 million votes with 535 in Congress? Doesn’t that change “We the People” to “We the Congress”? Democrats in the past have blatantly attempted to overturn elections in Congress and seize more of this electoral power for Congress. It was a violation of the Constitution then, and remains so today.

I deeply respect my fellow Republicans who see this issue differently. 

I worry that if we help undermine the Electoral College out of frustration and anger, we lend fuel to the liberal national popular vote scheme, inevitably we will one day stand on the sidelines as voters in only the largest cities determine our President. 

Our nation’s founders rejected this as dangerous to our nation’s governance. I do too. 

The Electoral College ensures we have a President who is accountable to all the nation, and can be a Republican, a conservative, or a grassroots outsider if America so chooses.