Newhouse must repair damage done after backing Trump’s claims of fraud | Editorial

Republican U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers have a lot of work to do to set things right after signing on to a lawsuit challenging the results of the presidential election.

They both have finally acknowledged Democrat Joe Biden’s win, according to The Spokesman-Review. But last week, instead of standing up for the system that got them elected, the Washington state lawmakers symbolically railed against it.

They were among 126 House Republicans who signed an amicus brief supporting the frivolous and controversial Texas lawsuit that wanted the U.S. Supreme Court to toss millions of votes in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, which should be the end it.

If Trump was alone in his claims of a fraudulent election, it would be easier for the country to heal and move on. But with Newhouse, McMorris Rodgers and so many other lawmakers initially backing Trump’s defiance, it will be more difficult to squelch the unrest bubbling throughout the country.

And even though Newhouse has publicly accepted Biden, he said he still has concerns over the legitimacy of the election results, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic.

He needs to quit casting doubt on the process. Challenges to the election undercut faith in our democracy and fuel divisiveness.

It also encourages the likes of Republican Loren Culp, who this week filed a lawsuit challenging election results in the Washington state governor’s race.

If elections are close, skepticism of the results is understandable. But that’s not the case with Trump and Culp.

The official count on Monday confirmed Democrat Joe Biden earned 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232. A candidate must receive 270 of the 538 total electoral votes to become president.

And according to the Washington Secretary of State, Gov. Jay Inslee received 57% of the vote to Culp’s 43%.

The results aren’t even close, and yet that won’t stop the spread of conspiracy theories and allegations of election fraud among hard-core Trump and Culp supporters.

Trump still won’t concede the race and won’t exit gracefully. Culp also continues to question the state’s election results — even though he can’t present any proof of fraud.

That’s why it was so upsetting when Newhouse and McMorris Rodgers supported the Texas suit.

Now, more than ever, we need Republican lawmakers who will lead by example and defend our country’s democratic process — not undercut it.

To her credit, Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler was one of those lawmakers who did not support the suit. We wish Newhouse and McMorris Rodgers had made the same decision.

Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, warned of the repercussions of questioning our election process in a telling interview last month with The Seattle Times.

“This is exactly what our foreign adversaries want to happen,” Wyman said. “Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, what they want is they want people to lose confidence in our democratic institutions. They want people to believe our election wasn’t fair.

“…. They want the discord, because when people lose faith in our elections, they don’t believe that the elected leaders are legitimate. And that undermines democracy at its core foundation.”

The Texas lawsuit claimed the governors or courts in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania illegally expanded mail-in voting and took away powers reserved for Legislatures — all unsubstantiated allegations.

Last week, Newhouse said the court case is rooted in a constitutional issue and that “joining this amicus brief is not about trying to overturn the results of an election, but is simply about ensuring the American people have faith in our elections and our Constitution.”

If he really wanted to ensure faith in our elections, Newhouse shouldn’t have signed on to such a shaky lawsuit.

It is obvious that both Newhouse and McMorris Rodgers still have work to do to restore credibility to a system they badly damaged.

This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 12:56 PM.