Some senior House Democrats are now publicly saying they may not certify a potential Donald Trump victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, told Axios: “If Trump won a free, fair and honest election, then we would obviously accept it.”
However, Raskin added that he “definitely” doesn’t assume Trump would use such means to secure victory.
Similarly, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said he wasn’t sure he would certify Trump’s election.
“I don’t know what kind of shenanigans he is planning,” Schakowsky claimed, without evidence.
However, Democratic leadership appears — at least in public — ready to certify any legitimate election result. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has signaled that there is little chance of an organized effort to decertify electors, stating, “House Democrats are going to do everything necessary to … ensure that the winner of the presidential election is certified on January 6th without drama or consequences.”
Democrats have a history of lodging challenges to Republican election victories, including objections to George W. Bush’s win in 2005 and Donald Trump’s in 2017, though these were unsuccessful.
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., a member of Jeffries’ leadership team, echoed the leadership’s stance, saying, “I expect we would do as we did in 2016. While disappointed with the outcome of the election and despite a handful of outliers making a ‘statement,’ we did not object then [nor] would we now object to the result of a democratic election.”