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New Mexico’s new Republican congresswoman will use her first week in office to help President Trump overturn the results of the November election.
According to a post on her campaign Facebook page last week, Herrell will join a growing group of Republican members of Congress who intend to object to the results in various states, possibly including New Mexico where Republicans have sued, and lost, repeatedly to cast doubt on the results.
The group of House Republicans has said it plans to challenge the election results from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. Biden won all those states.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., this week became the first GOP senator to announce he also will raise objections.
With objections in both chambers of Congress, that would force House and Senate votes that likely would delay but not alter the final certification of Biden’s win.
Trump has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite nonpartisan election officials and now-former U.S. Attorney General William Barr saying there wasn’t any. Republicans have filed and lost roughly 50 lawsuits attempting to overturn the results of the election, according to the Associated Press. They have yet to present any credible evidence of fraud or conspiracy impacting the outcome of the election. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.3
Democrats are already taking note of Herrell’s position. “Yvette Herrell is beginning her term by putting her political beliefs ahead of the opinions of millions of American voters,” said state Democratic Party Chair Marg Elliston. “Instead of preparing to address serious issues like stopping COVID-19, she has decided her views are more important than the voters and is spreading dangerous misinformation that puts our democracy at risk. From day one, it’s clear that Representative Herrell is more focused on putting herself first than addressing the needs of Southern New Mexicans.”
Herrell was sworn into office Sunday, three days before House and Senate hold a joint session to certify the vote results. The pro-Trump Republican defeated moderate Democrat Xochtil Torres Small in the state’s second Congressional district representing southern New Mexico.
Herrell is entering Congress as a freshman member of Congress in the minority with a president from the other party. It is not clear why Herrell believes voting to delegitimize the election of the president-elect will help her earn support for her priorities for constituents of her district.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
No, it isn’t clear why she’s doing this, since it’s obviously not possible to overturn the election result. But it’s painfully clear that if the election was a fraud, her victory was a fraud. Would love to “find” another 10,000 votes to put Torres Small back in office.