Kaptur Statement on GOP Efforts to Overturn the 2020 Presidential Election
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), released the following statement as Republicans in the House and Senate took reckless and historic measures to overturn the will of the American people and reject the certification of the 2020 Presidential election. Rep. Kaptur's statement will be entered into the Congressional Record:
"The Trump Administration and its malcontent allies in Congress are abusing the U.S. Constitution in their hapless attempt to upturn the 2020 Presidential election," said Rep. Kaptur. "They too are violating a key Republican principle, namely, states' rights. This entire episode of challenging the votes of 50 states is a concocted PR stunt to thwart the will of the American people in our 2020 Presidential election. Republican efforts to upend Article X of our Constitution to suppress state election laws set out by all 50 states is blatantly unconstitutional. It is illegal. And, it is based on zero evidence."
"One vivid example is Trump's Texas lawsuit to overturn over 20 million votes in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. It was summarily dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a stunning one-paragraph rejection. That court is packed with Trump appointees. Why? No evidence. Isn't it clear by now their Trumped-up charges hold no truth? Sadly, what we are witnessing is but a made-for-TV spectacle, feeding a false narrative so Trump allies can squeeze more campaign money from their followers.
"Article II and the 12th Amendment of our Constitution make it absolutely clear that Congress cannot overturn the will of the American people in a Presidential election, or any election. The work of conducting elections, and counting the results, rests entirely with the states. Congress' role is legally to report the certified results from our states. Fifty elected Secretaries of State and thousands of state election officials from both parties across our country hold the awesome responsibility for carrying out free, fair, and rigorously conducted elections. Thus, our 50 Secretaries of State and their vast network of local bipartisan Boards of Elections with voluminous record-keeping systems perform this sacred task. All of them did their jobs last year, even under the difficult circumstances imposed by COVID-19.
"For the federal government to usurp the power of our sovereign states is unconstitutional. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reads: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.' Election laws are the jurisdiction of our states. The President ought to read it, and gracefully accept his defeat rather than ending his Presidency on false claims and sour grapes.
"Finally, in an appeal to my Republican friends and colleagues, I offer the courageous words of Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress, spoken on the Senate floor a half-century ago in her Declaration of Conscience –
‘I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear.....I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear. . . . Surely we Republicans aren't that desperate for victory.'
"I urge our Republican colleagues to heed these words. Reflect on the Oath of Office we took mere days ago. The stability of our Republic is surely a more righteous reward than any electoral victory. When the new Administration is sworn in, I urge every American serving in this chamber to come together for the good of our precious and most sacred Union."