It appears that the majority of the GOP still wants to consider election theft on a case-by-case basis.
But the votes House Republicans cast Wednesday weren’t about the merits of the bill or the wording of the act or the legitimacy of our elections. Their votes were about making sure that the people who do believe that Pence could have — and should have — installed Trump for a second term don’t turn on them.
You can see that when you look at who among the GOP voted to impeach Trump that second time but against the Presidential Election Reform Act. Only two members fall into that category: Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and David Valadao, R-Calif. Ofwho decided that maybe Trump’s incitement on Jan. 6, 2021, was a problem, Valadao and Newhouse are the only ones on their districts’ general election ballots this fall.
It’s not that they love the Electoral Count Act as it stands; it’s that they find the politics around changing it untenable. Valadao and Newhouse managed to hold out against Trump-backed challengers in their primaries, but bothand both made it to the general election alongside Democratic opponents. They won out over their GOP challengers by a few thousand votes each, which means they can’t further alienate Trump fans if they want voters in November to return them to Congress.