Kern Republicans defend responses to events in DC
Christian Romo wasn’t planning to be glued to his television Wednesday as a typically procedural process to certify the results of the Electoral College vote took place in the nation’s Capitol. He comes from an immigrant family who saw American democracy and the peaceful transition of power as a beacon of hope.
But then Romo, the chairman of Kern County Democratic Central Committee, said he kept getting texts from friends who worked in Washington, D.C., telling him to turn on the news.
“I could not believe what I was watching with my eyes,” Romo said.
He saw people storming the Capitol, waving flags in support of outgoing President Donald Trump, a woman dying and a man waving the Confederate flag in the rotunda, which he considers an affront to veterans.
His committee sent a statement Wednesday evening calling on local representatives in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and David Valadao, R-Hanford, to accept the election of Joe Biden and to join a call to remove Trump from office for what the committee considered his role in inciting the mob.
But Romo said he was shocked that
in the late night hours McCarthy continued to support a challenge to the Electoral College vote. McCarthy, leader of the House Republicans, voted to challenge the results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.
“It was a terrorist attack on the Capitol, people died, and you still did not have the courage to stand up against the President?” Romo asked.
McCarthy’s counterpart in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, discouraged members from challenging the count, warning that these votes could cause American democracy to “enter a death spiral.”
“The voters, courts and the states have all spoken,” McConnell said. “If we overrule them, we would damage our republic forever.”
Some Republicans in both chambers backed down from their support of electoral challenges after Wednesday’s violence. This included some who signed onto an amicus brief for a case brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the Supreme Court declined to hear.
McCarthy’s office did not respond Thursday to a request for comment. The Kern County Republican Party said it was declining to comment on McCarthy’s actions or any of Wednesday’s events.
McCarthy released a statement Thursday condemning Wednesday’s violence, calling it “unlawful, un-American, and unacceptable” and acknowledging that Biden will be the next president.
He also provided a statement about his challenges: “The debate and votes were not about overturning an election or federalizing elections; instead, it was to ensure that our country follows an accurate and accountable process that complies with the Constitution so that millions of Americans who voted on Election Day can have confidence in our system.”
Christian Grose, a political scientist at the University of Southern California, said McCarthy is in a tough position as a leader trying to balance a caucus whose views range from some newly-elected members who engage with QAnon conspiracy theories to moderates who are unhappy with Trump. Most of his caucus supported the electoral challenge, Grose pointed out.
“It’s hard to break with the president when the president is saying there is fraud,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he wants everything to end, but he has to balance a conservative constituency with a fractured caucus.”
That’s not the case for Valadao, who lives in a swing district, Grose points out.
Valadao was unable to vote Wednesday because he is still at home after receiving a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. He has yet to be sworn in.
“He will return to Washington when it is safe for him to do so in coordination with his physician at home and the attending physician of the Capitol,” his spokeswoman, Faith Vander Voort, said in a statement.
She said Thursday the incoming congressman for the 21st Congressional District wouldn’t be available for comment. But he did weigh in on the matter before Congress through Twitter.
“The role of Congress as defined by the Constitution is to count the votes certified by the states. It is not the role of Congress to choose who the states certify. Only states have the authority to appoint electors,” he wrote, in a tweet.
“Choosing to ignore the facts for the sake of party power is damaging to the American people’s confidence in the Electoral College and sets an unwise precedent for future elections,” he continued. “Simply put, Congress does not have the power to pick the president — the American people do, through the Electoral College.”
Shannon Grove, the minority leader in the California Senate, weighed in Wednesday on Twitter.
She retweeted a tweet sent by Lin Wood, the lawyer behind a rejected suit in Georgia and one dismissed in Michigan seeking to overturn Biden’s win. Wood’s tweet contained photos of two individuals he claimed were “indisputable photographic evidence that antifa violently broke into Congress.” Grove added her own comments in her retweet: “Patriots don’t act like this!!! This was Antifa.”
Grove did not respond to a request for an interview Thursday. Her spokeswoman, Jacqui Nguyen, said Grove told her that she posted an “incomplete” tweet and only realized her mistake later. That’s when she deleted the initial tweet and posted a second one.
“Patriots don’t act like this!! This is the way Antifa behaves,” she wrote in the tweet. “This behavior is unacceptable and unAmerican.”
Grove also wrote on her Facebook page: “Some are taking my words the wrong way, so I am going to be very clear here: I unequivocally condemn any act of violence. I did so when Antifa attacked Portland and Seattle and I am doing so again with the attack we witnessed today.