Congresswoman hopes to give voice to loudmouths
It’s not that Congresswoman Yvette Herrell can’t learn from history. She simply prefers myths and self-serving deception to truth. A Republican from Alamogordo, Herrell whined after she lost the 2018 election in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.She saw herself as the favorite and considered the election a formality. Herrell gave a victory speech with thousands of votes still to be counted. She was humiliated when she ended up losing by 3,700 votes.
Desperate for a scapegoat, Herrell claimed Democrats cheated her, though she didn’t contest the election. Better to let a false claim linger than have to listen as it’s laughed out of court.
The 2020 election went much better for Herrell. She won the seat in the 2nd District by 20,000 votes, ousting freshman Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small of Las Cruces.
Since Herrell got the result she wanted this time, she considered the election in the 2nd District to be a model of honesty.
But Herrell now has a complaint about a different election. What a shock that it didn’t turn out to her liking.
Herrell says she will object this week to the certification of the presidential election. Her candidate, President Donald Trump, lost to Joe Biden by decisive margins in the popular vote and Electoral College.
Trump and his lawyers have made unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. Herrell has decided to join these loud complainers in one of her first acts in Congress.
“As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, it is my duty to give the people a voice and ensure that legitimate concerns over the integrity of the presidential elec
tion are thoroughly heard and examined,” she said in a statement.
Biden’s victory over Trump already has been certified by every state and the Electoral College. Herrell and others whose rooting interest is with Trump want to keep alive the false claim that he was robbed of a second term.
Fair-minded members of Herrell’s own party have reviewed and rejected Trump’s claims of voter fraud.
Georgia’s top officials are Republicans. Their natural sympathies are with Trump, but recounts in their state affirmed Biden’s victory.
“We have now counted legally cast ballots three times, and the results remain unchanged,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.Trump’s supporters spent $3 million for recounts in the two most populous counties of Wisconsin.
Their endeavor cost them more than money. Trump’s margin of defeat in Wisconsin widened by another 87 votes after the recounts.
Herrell also mentioned thoroughness, as if her side can distinguish itself in that category. The opposite is true.
Trump’s lawyers sued on the faint hope that a U.S. district judge in Pennsylvania would invent a reason to overturn Biden’s victory in that state.
The judge, Matthew Brann, rejected all of Trump’s claims.
“This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence,” Brann wrote in his decision.
Brann is a Republican. His courthouse is in Williamsport, Pa., part of a county that Trump carried with 70 percent of the vote.
From that backdrop of partisan politics, Brann sized up Trump’s lawsuit for the frivolous mess it was.
As a state lawmaker, Herrell on occasion complained about judges legislating from the bench. Yet she criticizes the review process in which Brann and other judges stuck to the law instead of throwing out valid votes to assist Trump.
The 2020 U.S. presidential election was unlike any in history.
It was a lopsided victory for Biden, but Trump calls himself the winner.
Trump didn’t complain about mail-in ballots in Florida, where he won, but he railed against them in Pennsylvania, where he lost.
“This claim, like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together,” Judge Brann wrote of Trump’s objections to Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting system.
In her first week in office, Herrell will do what she can to keep Trump’s bitter strain alive.
For a freshman congresswoman, she understands Trump as well as anyone. He’s handled defeat with all the grace Herrell showed two years ago.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.