During a live-streamed interview on Tuesday, Democrat House Leader Steny Hoyer echoed President Joe Biden's position that the 2022 midterm elections could be "illegitimate" if Democrats fail to pass their radical elections bills. Politico reported:
Hoyer said the Democrats' push to pass voting rights legislation is “very much alive,” but he referenced the same strategy that failed Democrats last week. “We either need to change the rules, or get 60 votes [in the Senate],” he said.
In a press conference prior to the Senate's vote last week, Biden cast doubt on the 2022 midterms by saying the elections could “easily be illegitimate” if voting rights legislation did not pass the Senate.
Hoyer offered an appraisal of Biden's assertion. “President Biden is correct,” he said.
Confidence in the U.S. elections system is of paramount importance, but Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is the 2nd member of House Democrat leadership to recently cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 elections if Democrats' elections bills are not passed. 1/3 https://t.co/gqvUWuSPeH
— Lawyers Democracy (@lawyersdf) January 25, 2022
Democrat Whip Jim Clyburn also cast doubt on the legitimacy of this year's midterms in an interview with CNN last week.
Preemptively casting doubt on an election by any party is a dangerous precedent. Voters need to have confidence in elections, and unwarranted accusations like those by Majority Leader Hoyer and Majority Whip Clyburn greatly undermine voter confidence. 3/3
— Lawyers Democracy (@lawyersdf) January 25, 2022
The White House tried to walk back the President's dangerous statement, but reinforcement from Democrat House leadership shows that his statement was no gaffe.
Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of Senators met to discuss reforms to the Electoral Count Act, a rare area of election law where bipartisan election law reform is possible. Notably absent was Senate Democratic leadership: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has previously criticized efforts to reform the ECA, calling them 'insufficient' and 'offensive.'"
Senate Dems & their aides, bruised and beaten after a challenging few weeks of futile work, tell @axios they're largely shutting off this week to recalibrate
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) January 25, 2022
They want to cool off before jumping back into talks over how to salvage Biden's agenda https://t.co/bofPlNbPhZ
The bottom line: Democrat leadership will continue to cast doubt on our elections until they get their way, and they have no interest in engaging in meaningful talks on bipartisan reform.