Bipartisan House Pledge Urges Lawmakers to Seat Midterm Winners

Only one member of California’s nine-member Republican-aligned U.S. House delegation—Rocklin Republican-turned-independent Rep. Kevin Kiley—confirmed signing a bipartisan congressional pledge promising to accept certified midterm election results and seat newly elected members of Congress, according to a CalMatters survey published by Mountain View Voice and The Almanac.

Authored by Reps. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) and Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) and first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the pledge commits signatories to recognize state-certified election winners and oppose “any attempt to refuse or delay the seating of any Member-elect who presents a validly issued election certificate.”

Responses Across California’s House Delegation

Gottheimer announced Friday that 17 Republicans and Democrats out of the House’s 433 sitting members (with two vacant seats) have signed the pledge, including Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

When CalMatters surveyed California’s eight House Republicans and Kiley:

• Rep. Kevin Kiley said he signed the pledge and would accept the results of his race against Sacramento Democrat Dr. Richard Pan. “When the election’s over, we should get things certified and get started on the important work Congress has to do,” Kiley said.
• Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim) had not seen the pledge, but spokesperson Ellie Gilchrist confirmed Kim “will seat new members.”
• Reps. Jay Obernolte, Vince Fong, and Darrell Issa had spokespeople who either could not answer, noted Fong was on paternity leave after welcoming a baby last week, or did not state whether Issa signed.
• Reps. Ken Calvert, James Gallagher, Tom McClintock, and David Valadao did not respond to inquiries.

Constitutional Context Ahead of January 3 Swearing-In

While Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Scott Yenor argued in April that Congress can declare elections invalid and order new elections if it judges them fraudulent, UCLA law professor Rick Hasen told WNYC that refusing to seat certified winners on Jan. 3 “would be profoundly anti-democratic” and remains “very far-fetched.”