Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who won her race by just six votes in Iowa this past fall, said the news more ballots have been discovered and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has not ruled out unseating her is "disappointing."
"Honestly, people would be outraged, not because of me personally, but think about it this way: We won on election night; there was a 24-county official canvass the week after the election; at that time, I was still ahead," Miller-Meeks told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
And, when the ballots were recounted including the ones that came in postmarked the day before the election, "I was still ahead at the end of the recount, and then I was certified by my secretary of state and certified by a bipartisan five-member executive council and then sworn in," she added.
"People will remember back to Jan. 3 on (our) swearing-in, all of the Democrats voted that every member, every representative elected on Nov. 3 was legitimate and should be sworn in that day," she continued. "There was no contest, there was no one speaking on the House floor that I should not be seated and I was sworn in and I've been serving my district."
Ballots were brought up during the recount process and declared to be illegitimate, Miller-Meeks said.
She added her Democrat opponent, former state Sen. Rita Hart, said in an interview she "skipped over the Iowa courts" and rather than having the court address the ballots, she chose the matter to go to Congress "because they want Congress to get the results that they need, not what the voters wanted, but the votes that they need."
"There are six Democrat members on the House Committee on Administration," she said. "If six votes aren't enough to win this election, then why are six votes of Democrat members of Congress enough to overturn an election? People should be outraged at what's happening."
Meanwhile, when Pelosi was asked if Miller-Meeks should be unseated, she admitted that would be a "pretty bold move" but it "could be a scenario."
The Hart campaign has filed a challenge with Congress on the results, claiming 22 legally cast ballots had not been counted and that affected the outcome, reports ABC affiliate WQAD in Iowa. A House committee March 10 turned down a motion brought by the Miller-Meeks campaign to dismiss Hart's challenge.
Alan Ostergren, the attorney for Miller-Meeks' campaign said after the decision, Hart's complaint "has no more merit today than it did when it was filed."
Meanwhile, Miller-Meeks will visit the nation's border Monday with a delegation led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and said the group wants to see what is happening and how many unaccompanied minors are crossing.
"We've heard various numbers, what happens to them, how they are processed, is there a surge," she said. "From all indications, the numbers are vastly increased over what it has been. There was order at the border and an orderly process going through under President [Donald] Trump, but we don't see this under the current administration."
Miller-Meeks noted she is a former public health director, as well as being a doctor, and there are many concerns for the health and safety of unaccompanied minors.
"We need to know, are they being trafficked, are they being abused, are they being sexually abused," she said. "Think of the horrific journey that these individuals are going under trying to come into this country.
"Are we empowering the cartels in order to bring more people across?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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