Rita Hart, an Iowa Democrat, lost her bid in the open 2nd Congressional District by six votes out of more than 394,000 cast. Now, rather than continuing to appeal in court, Hart is taking her case directly to the House because it's a necessary step to get the results her campaign wants, she said in an online video.
"We had two options: to either go to the state Supreme Court or to go to the U.S. House," Hart said. "And, again, it became clear that if we were going to get what we need, which is a examination of those ballots, an account of all the votes that didn't get counted in the recount, we had to have the time to do it.”
The state canvass board certified the results for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District after a districtwide count in all 24 counties acknowledged Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks as the winner.
"To me, there was only one way that we could get the result that we need," Hart said. "And that is to take this to the Committee on House Administration, so that they have an opportunity to actually call for a count again so that we make sure that every vote is counted.”
The outcome of the 2nd Congressional District race has broad implications for the House, since Republicans made unexpected gains in the 2020 election cycle. If Miller-Meeks ends up the winner and Republicans are victorious in the nation's other outstanding race, New York's 22nd Congressional District in the central part of the Empire State, Democrats in the next Congress will hold 222 seats to 213 for Republicans. That puts Republicans within striking distance of a House majority, which requires 218 members.
Under the Constitution and a 1969 law, the House and Senate have final say on seating members. But the last time the House intervened in a close election was in 1984, in an Indiana race in the state’s 8th Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Frank McCloskey led Republican Rick McIntyre by 72 votes on election night, but following two state recounts, McIntyre led McCloskey by margins of 34 and 418 votes.
McCloskey took the matter to the Democrat-controlled House, where a recount resulted in his favor, and he was eventually seated. Republicans called the election a “stolen” seat.
"They took away the voice of the American public who voted for an individual, and the Democrats sitting in the House decided who won and lost?" House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said this week of the 1984 Indiana race, an event more than 20 years before he arrived in the House. "Let's hope it does not come to that. That should never return itself ever in this country."
