Southern IL GOP House members split on Biden win. Why did they vote to object or not?
Southern Illinois’ three GOP House members were divided last week on whether to support a last-ditch effort to disavow 2020 election results or to recognize the legitimate outcome.
The two most conservative members of Illinois congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Mike Bost of the 12th District and Mary Miller of the 15th, objected to Electoral College results certifying President-elect Biden — first objecting to Arizona’s results and then Pennsylvania’s.
But Congressman Rodney Davis, a Republican representing the 13th District, voted to uphold the results along with 83 GOP House members and 220 Democrats on the first vote regarding Arizona’s tally. Only six senators objected.
The House members will be back in Washington, D.C., this week for a series of historic votes. They will take up a resolution Tuesday calling for Vice President Mike Pence to remove President Donald Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment. On Wednesday the House is expected to vote on impeaching the president for “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s deadly U.S. Capitol riot.
Davis’ central and southwestern Illinois district leans more centrist than his colleagues’, whose eastern and southernmost Illinois constituents heavily favor Trump.
The congressman voted to uphold the results of the election because he fulfilling his constitutional duty under the 12th Amendment, which says Congress counts the Electoral College counts the states send them, he said.
“What’s most frustrating to me is that everyone knew what the outcome of that Electoral College certification was going to be,” Davis said, “and it’s very frustrating when misinformation and disinformation comes out.”
Efforts to object to the results gave Trump supporters false hope he could serve a second term, Davis said.
“Unfortunately, the election did not work out the way that I wanted it to, but we here in the United States of America have peaceful transitions of power and he lost the election. Our job, in my opinion, on January 6th was a formality to accept the state’s results based on the 12th Amendment of the Constitution. I will always stick up for the Constitution.”
Other southern Illinois House member votes
Bost and Miller, on the other hand, faced more pressure from their pro-Trump constituents to object to the Electoral College results. Biden won 306 Electoral College votes compared to Trump’s 232.
In question in Wednesday night’s votes were Electoral College results from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Republican leaders in Arizona claimed Biden won by more than 10,000 votes only because of voter fraud. A federal court there dismissed a case in December claiming his win should be overturned, with the judge saying the suit was “sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence,” The Arizona Republic reported. The state’s Republican-majority Supreme Court threw out a similar case last week.
Bost was one of 37 House members who announced their intention to challenge Pennsylvania’s results too. A statement from the lawmakers said they were challenging the results in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin because “a variety” of officials interfered with election rules. The Constitution mandates that only state legislatures are allowed to alter election laws.
The U.S. Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit claiming election fraud in those states because it found Texas, which filed the suit, did not have legal standing to challenge another state’s elections. The case relied on debunked claims of election fraud.
By objecting to the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania — the only states who Electoral College results went to a vote last week — Bost says he was doing everything he could to “challenge everything we can.”
“We have done everything we can as those of us who believe there were problems with this election under what we could within the Constitution,” Bost said.
Bost recognized Biden will be president, but said, “I do believe there are certain questions that should have been answered in the court.”
Davis said he reviewed evidence in every court case that was then dismissed. There were more than 60 cases where Trump’s legal team failed to prove fraud.
“Unfortunately the president got bad legal advice,” Davis said, “because the facts just don’t add up.”
In addition to the Supreme Court, Trump-appointed former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, judges, election authorities and the Department of Homeland Security have all verified the legitimacy of the presidential election.
Some Republicans changed their minds about challenging the election results after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, terrorizing lawmakers huddled inside.
Bost condemned the violence that ended with five people dead, but said “deeply troubling scenes at the U.S. Capitol yesterday indicate the intense distrust that many Americans have towards the election process.” House Democrats, meanwhile, accused Trump in impeachment articles of inciting an insurrection.
The congressman urged voters concerned about election fraud should contact their representatives.
“If you don’t like electronic ballots, vote by mail, go and make sure your state legislator votes that way,” Bost said. “My encouragement to the voters is don’t give up. ... Keep voting.”
Miller did not respond to a request for comment on why she objected to the Electoral College results, but the newly sworn-in congresswoman explained her decision in an interview with far-right newspaper The Epoch Times. Similar to Bost’s argument, Miller said she believes the Constitution was violated because authorities other than state legislatures changed election rules.
The pro-Trump newspaper is backed by proponents of Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement founded in the 1990s.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 9:27 AM.
