Trump strife affects views on Iowa race

An Iowa Democrat’s quest for Congress to overturn her state-certified defeat for a House seat is prompting awkward divisions within her party, months after its members reacted with uniform fury at Donald Trump’s drive to reverse his presidential election loss.

Democrat Rita Hart, the loser by six votes, says she has found 22 uncounted ballots that would make her the victor over Republican Mariannette Miller-meeks, who took office in January. Hart has brought her case to the House Administration Committee, which has been collecting briefs, and both sides have lawyered up for a dispute that could smolder into summer.

The Democratic-run House could make the final decision. But with the party still seething over Trump’s attempt to have Congress overturn state-certified election results he didn’t like, at least six Democrats have publicly expressed qualms about doing the same to Miller-meeks.

Those dissidents are quietly supported by others, say several Democrats speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, suggesting that Hart’s effort could fail.

“Legislators should be heeding states’ certifications of their elections,” Rep. Susan Wild, D-PA., said in a statement. Without evidence of “rampant error,” she said, “I do not believe it is the role of House members to dictate the outcome of elections.”

There’s still time for uneasy Democrats to change their minds, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., is a renowned vote counter with little tolerance for embarrassing defeats. Republicans oppose the effort, savaging it as an attempt to ignore voters.

This leaves Democrats torn between seating Hart and adding a smidgen of breathing room to their precipitous 219-211 majority — with five vacancies — or rejecting her claim and avoiding accusations of a hypocritical power play.

“For Democrats to somehow change their tune in a matter of weeks over how sacrosanct an election certificate is is the height of hypocrisy,” said Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, top Republican on the House Administration panel.

Pelosi has said “there could be a scenario” in which Hart would win the seat. Democrats say Trump’s allegations of widespread election fraud were fiction but that their assertions about uncounted Iowa ballots for Hart, which are accompanied by voters’ affidavits, are solid.