Thirty-two members of Congress have signed a “Unity Commitment” pledging to respect the results of the upcoming presidential election, certify the results, and attend the inauguration while calling for calm and opposing related political violence, according to a copy of the pledge obtained by Politico and released on Friday.
Historically, certifying election results has been a routine function of Congress, conducted without controversy or violence—until supporters of Donald Trump rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Six of the 32 pledge’s signatories are Republicans, with most coming from swing districts. They are Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, and Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, and Anthony D’Esposito, all from New York. The remaining 26 signatories are Democrats.
Bacon, who represents Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, organized the pledge with Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. Bacon’s district is of unusual importance to the 2024 election because it exists in one of only two states (along with Maine) that allocates part of its Electoral College vote based on which candidate wins in the district. In 2020, President Joe Biden won one of his 306 electoral votes from the district, defeating Donald Trump. And Bacon was reelected to his seat in 2022 by less than 3 percentage points.
Similarly, Fitzpatrick, Lawler, Chavez-DeRemer, and D’Esposito won by just single digits that year, though LaLota won by 11 points. Those who were in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, also voted to certify Biden’s victory over Trump. In total, 147 Republicans—139 in the House, eight in the Senate—voted against certifying the 2020 results.
In all likelihood, the Republicans who signed the Unity Commitment face constituents who are less likely to buy into the election denialism promoted by right-wing figures like Donald Trump.
By contrast, on the same day the pledge was released, Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said on CNN that he would not commit to certifying the results. Mullin’s home state has strongly supported Trump’s campaigns, with Trump winning it by over 30 points in 2020.
“I’m not going to sit up here and tell you what I’m going to do and not going to do until I see the results,” he told CNN host Pamela Brown.
Mullin’s remarks follow Trump once again lying during Tuesday’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that he won the 2020 race.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, similarly said in a recent interview that he would have supported fake electors in 2020 that falsely claimed Trump had won, a process which would have invalidated millions of Biden-Harris votes.
Law enforcement officials recently announced enhanced security procedures meant to prevent another Jan. 6-style event. The Secret Service on Wednesday said it had designated the upcoming certification of the presidential election as a “National Special Security Event,” following a request from Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Seven deaths have been tied to the 2021 attack, as have the assaults of at least 174 police officers. Trump was impeached for a second time and has been indicted for allegedly inciting the incident.
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