The 2020 Democratic challenger to Iowa GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is dropping her election contest in a race she lost by six votes out of more than 394,000 cast.
Rita Hart on Wednesday withdrew her challenge with the House Administration Committee over Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District after it became clear several House Democrats weren’t interested in overturning the razor-thin election results.
The move comes nearly three months after Miller-Meeks was sworn into office as a first-term congresswoman. Her status had increasingly become a rallying cry for House Republicans, who accused Democrats, in the majority, of trying to overturn a free and fair election.
“Despite our best efforts to have every vote counted, the reality is that the toxic campaign of political disinformation to attack this constitutional review of the closest congressional contest in 100 years has effectively silenced the voices of Iowans,” Hart said in a statement Wednesday. “It is a stain on our democracy that the truth has not prevailed and my hope for the future is a return to decency and civility.”
With Miller-Meeks seated for the remainder of this House term, ending in early January 2023, the 2020 election cycle has finally concluded. Democrats have 219 seats, with 211 for Republicans and five vacancies.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy earlier Wednesday had visited Miller-Meeks’s district, in Davenport, and said there was no reason to change the race’s outcome.
“Would [Democrats] do this if they didn’t have a five-seat majority?” McCarthy asked. “Because at the end of the day, Iowans made a decision. And it’s their voice, and they have a right to have congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who they elected, to continue to serve them. Just like she’s been doing every single day since she’s been sworn in.”
The Iowa Canvassing Board ratified the result last fall and certified Miller-Meeks as the winner of the race. But Hart, who had the option to appeal to Iowa’s state court following a recanvass and a recount, decided to contest the race directly with the House Administration Committee instead. Hart claimed 22 ballots were excluded in the final tally in error, which, if included, would have made her the winner.
The chairwoman of the committee, Zoe Lofgren, said Wednesday the dispute is now over.
“There being no contestant, there is no longer a contest, and the Committee will, accordingly, recommend that the whole House dispose of the contest and adopt a dismissal resolution reported out by the Committee,” Lofgren, a California Democrat, said in a statement.
House Republicans’ campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, meanwhile, said the Iowa dispute will be a cudgel to be used against Democrats.
“We are glad Rita Hart finally came to her senses and admitted the truth: the people of Iowa chose Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to represent them in Congress,” said a NRCC statement. “We won’t let voters forget that Democrats will do whatever they can to subvert democracy if given the opportunity.”
