Republicans may lose House contest in Arizona

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A Republican who defeated his Democrat opponent in a competitive Arizona district could actually lose his spot in Congress because the county has refused to certify the election. Arizona Secretary of State and Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs has sued the county in the Cochise County Superior Court and asked it to certify the election, the Washington Examiner reported.

Republican Juan Ciscomani has unofficially been victorious in the district but if the county does not certify the election it could eliminate the 38,706 votes cast for him and give the Democrat, Kirsten Engel, the victory. If the county does not certify its election “the Secretary will have no choice but to complete the statewide canvass by Dec. 8 without Cochise County’s votes included,” the lawsuit said.

“Thus, the Board’s inaction not only violates the plain language of the statute but undermines a basic tenet of free and fair elections in this state: ensuring that every Arizonan’s voice is heard,” it said.

Cochise County Supervisor Ann English, the lone Democrat on the board, said, “There is no reason for us to delay,” per NPR. However, she was outvoted by GOP Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd.

The Associated Press called the race with Ciscomani receiving 50.7% of the votes, a narrow win over Engel with 49.3%. However, statewide results without Cochise County’s numbers would reportedly flip the seat in favor of Engel. A state schools chief seat would also flip for the Democrats. Republicans experienced disappointing results from the midterm elections, particularly in Arizona. Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, lost to Hobbs. Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for Arizona’s Senate race, also failed to achieve victory against incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

Republicans have a razor-thin majority coming into the next Congress that could threaten the chances of House Minority Leader and California Rep Kevin McCarthy becoming the next Speaker of The House.

McCarthy has issued a stark warning to his fellow Republicans. He wants them to know if they mess around with their votes for Speaker, and stage protest votes, it could give the Democrats the chance to elect the Speaker of the House.

“We’ve had a couple of these folks that say that they won’t vote for you on the show. When we ask them what they want. They list a couple of rules, and concessions that they want. And we say, well, if you get those concessions, will you vote for McCarthy, ‘Well, we’re not sure,’” Newsmax host Sean Spicer said.

“Well, then who do you want your candidate to be? ‘We don’t know that.’ You know, one can’t one of those people suggested Jim Jordan, he supporting you, Marjorie Taylor Greene is supporting you, Donald Trump supporting you,” the host said.

“You’ve raised, what, $500 million? Some of these people, you’ve actually funded their races. The thing that I don’t understand is I don’t envy your task. These folks aren’t giving you a target. I get your point. There’s no alternative. Everybody has voted for you. The conference has spoken. And as James Comer at the top of that clip said, you know, you’ve earned the opportunity. You were the quarterback, the coach that led them to the big game and won,” he said.

“So the question is, going back to what Lindsay said. You’ve got five people that you’ve laid out all your cards out there. What is it that you are able to say to them that is going to change them at this point to get you 218?” he said.

“Well, we have to listen, but you have to listen to everybody in the conference because five people on any side can stop anything when you’re in the majority. I think when you look at the past history, when Paul Ryan ran, he had more people vote against him in the conference and then they voted for him on the floor,” the minority leader said.

“We got five more weeks. We’re working through our conference rules today. We want to make sure that everybody has input, but we have to speak as one voice. We will only be successful if we work together or we’ll lose individually,” he said.

“This is very fragile that we are the only stopgap for this Biden administration. And if we don’t do this right, the Democrats can take the majority. If we play games on the floor, the Democrats could end up picking who the speaker is,” the minority leader said in a warning.

“So I think at the end of the day, calmer heads will prevail. We’ll work together to find the best path forward. And I believe at the end of the day, since I’ve been leader, all we’ve done is been able to gain seats. We have not lost seats,” he said.

We’ve won seats each and every time where the rest of the Republicans have lost. So I think at the end of the day, we’ll find the right path and we’ll make the American public proud of what we’re able to accomplish and turn this economy back around because we’re going to focus on the people, not on politics,” he said.

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