Is Biden the legitimately elected president? Kevin Kiley, Scott Jones won’t say
Republican congressional candidates Kevin Kiley and Scott Jones Tuesday refused to say whether Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election.
“Well, it depends what you mean by legitimate,” Kiley, a Rocklin assemblyman, said at the debate hosted by KCRA3 and CapRadio.
“There’s a political answer but there’s my honest answer and my honest answer is I don’t know. It depends who you watch, which newscast you watch,” said Jones, the Sacramento County sheriff.
They are running for California’s 3rd District House seat with Democrat Kermit Jones, who unequivocally said Biden won in 2020. The top two finishers in Tuesday’s primary election will compete in November for the newly drawn, open seat.
The district is regarded by independent analysts as tilting Republican. Former President Donald Trump won the district with roughly half the vote in 2020.
The new 3rd stretches from Plumas County, through Sacramento suburbs, parts of El Dorado County and down to Inyo County.
Trump has maintained that the election was marred by widespread fraud, even though investigators in state after state have found no evidence.
Trump, though, remains a potentially powerful player in Republican politics. He endorsed Kiley on May 14, and Scott Jones has aired ad that uses a picture of himself and Trump discussing immigration.
Biden, yes or no?
The candidates were asked by CapRadio politics reporter Nicole Nixon for a yes or no answer to the question of whether Biden was legitimately elected.
Kiley went first, and after saying it depends on the meaning of legitimate, he said, “The Electoral College voted and that’s how we determine the powers of the presidency in our system.”
But, he said, “even very left-leaning outlets like The Sacramento Bee editorial page has said the election system was tarnished in 2020 because of a lot of things that went on.”
In fact, a few days after Biden was elected, a Bee editorial explained in detail why he was the winner.
“The clear and simple truth is that American voters decided that four years of Trump was enough. Conspiracy-tinged tantrums won’t change the outcome,” it said.
Kiley went on to say protecting elections is “an important priority. What we have seen in California is a very clear example of what happens when we have too much power concentrated in one party.
“You get abuses and right now we have one party that controls all the levers at both the state and federal levels and it’s time to restore some balance…”
He was pressed to give a yes or no answer to the Biden question.
Kiley seemed miffed. “I’ve answered the question. It depends what you mean by legitimate,” he said.
Next was Scott Jones. He said he knew “there’s a lot of people that are confused enough and don’t know the answer to that question that we should look into this. We can solve this election integrity problem but there’s not the political will to do it.”
Kermit Jones answered succinctly, saying “the majority of Americans,” as well as the Supreme Court and many recounts have shown Biden to be the legitimately elected president.
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