McCarthy, Nunes stayed quiet on election challenge — and then opposed Biden’s win
For weeks, California’s two most powerful Republicans in Congress would not say whether they’d back President Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to throw out electoral votes from swing states he lost in November.
In the end, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare sided with Trump partisans in voting to toss out votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Their vote to dismiss swing state electoral votes came just hours after a mob overwhelmed Capitol Police, forcibly invading the Capitol and forcing senators and representatives to evacuate the House and Senate chambers and shelter in place.
Both lawmakers were key allies to Trump throughout his presidency. McCarthy asserted shortly after the November election that Trump had won, which was false. Nunes was one of Trump’s top defenders against government investigations, both during impeachment and the special counsel investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had colluded with Russia.
Days before that vote, both McCarthy and Nunes were mum on whether they would officially dispute state election results on the House floor. Hours before, McCarthy condemned the violent pro-Trump activists as “un-American” as he pleaded for help to quell the riot.
But both McCarthy and Nunes, along with five other California Republicans, voted to dispute the election results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania. They made up a majority of California’s Republican delegation.
Their effort failed. Congress certified Biden’s win in Thursday’s early hours, despite efforts by a majority of House Republicans and a handful of Senate Republicans.
Only two California Republicans, Reps. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove and Young Kim of Fullerton, voted to certify the election results of both states. McClintock before the vote warned that throwing out the states’ electoral votes could set a dangerous precedent.
“If the Congress can refuse to count electoral votes – for whatever reason – then it has the inherent power to seize the decision for itself and render the Electoral College superfluous,” he said.
Nunes during and after the riot did not post any statements to his Facebook, Twitter or Parler pages about the violence. His office did not respond to a request for comment. Nunes this week received the nation’s highest civilian honor from Trump, who on Monday gave the California congressman the Presidential Medal of Freedom as he commended Nunes for his work battling Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and Trump’s impeachment last year.
McCarthy for weeks has refused to call Biden president elect, even as his counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, did so after Electoral College votes were tallied on Dec. 14. McCarthy signed on to a Texas lawsuit that challenged the election results and was tossed out by the Supreme Court.
Similarly, Nunes called for investigations into how states won the election, but did not officially signal that he would contest the results of the election in the House vote. Nunes was not one of the 126 House Republicans who signed on to the Texas lawsuit.
Courts heard the lawsuits and complaints of President Donald Trump’s campaign, but the campaign did not provide evidence of widespread voter fraud in its many suits. All of those lawsuits have either been withdrawn or thrown out by courts, up to and including the Supreme Court. But some Republicans have continued to take issue with votes counted there, as well as how states conducted absentee ballots during the global pandemic.
In addition to McCarthy and Nunes, Reps. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, Ken Calvert, R-Corona, and Darrell Issa, R-San Marcos, all objected to certifying both states’ election results.
Only LaMalfa and Garcia released public statements before the day of the vote announcing their intentions. Others stayed quiet.
LaMalfa, who called the violence at the Capitol “inexcusable,” said his objection was not about overturning the election, but that he wanted claims by Trump’s campaign investigated before the election. The Trump campaign’s claims have not been backed up by evidence in court, and have been called flatly untrue by election officials in multiple states.
“I have no interest in overturning any election solely based on allegations. I do want the allegations to be investigated before Congress gives a final approval to the results,” LaMalfa said. “The court should have reviewed these claims, they didn’t.”
Obernolte and Issa called the violence “unacceptable.” Garcia called the attack “wrong in every sense of the word.”
Newly elected Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, and Congressman-elect David Valadao, R-Hanford, were not present at the vote due to positive COVID-19 tests.
Valadao said in a statement Wednesday that he did not support disputing the election results. He had also condemned the violence at the Capitol.
“The role of Congress as defined by the Constitution is to count the votes certified by the states. It is not the role of Congress to choose who the states certify,” Valadao said. “Only states have the authority to appoint electors.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 12:40 PM with the headline "McCarthy, Nunes stayed quiet on election challenge — and then opposed Biden’s win."
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