Right-wing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene is baselessly accusing Democrats of “stealing” of stealing a House race as Republicans cling onto a slim majority next Congress.
Incumbent John Duarte, a Republican, is facing off against Democratic challenger Adam Gray in northern California. As election workers count the ballots, Gray has pulled into a slight lead 22 days on.
Now, Greene has baselessly claimed Gray’s lead is due to “stealing.”
“Congressman John Duarte was winning but after 22 days of counting ballots he is now losing by 105 votes,” Greene wrote on X Wednesday. “Democrats are stealing another House seat! Elections nationwide should be one day, paper ballots, and require proof of citizenship with ID!!”
Merced Country Registrar of Voters Melvin Levey told The Independent there is no evidence of election fraud in this race.
“Everything we do is transparent, we've had observers observing this process from even before Election Day,” Levey said. “We've had observers every day from both Democratic campaigns and Democratic committees as well as Republican campaigns and Republican committees.”
“I think there's, you know, maybe some misunderstanding on her part about how California processes ballots, how we ensure that the vote count is accurate and is secure,” he added.
As of Tuesday evening, Gray has just 182 votes over Duarte. There are around 1,500 ballots that are still challenged, mostly because of the voters’ signatures, according to the Merced Country Registrar of Voters Melvin Levey.
The pair went head-to-head in 2022, and Gray lost by 564 votes, making it the second-closest vote in the nation during that midterm election.
There are just three Congressional races that have yet to be called, including Duarte’s.
In California’s 45th Congressional District, Democrat Derek Tran appears to be in the lead over Republican Representative Michelle Steel. Then, in Iowa, GOP Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks is ahead of Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan.
These races have not been called by the Associated Press as of Wednesday afternoon.
But, if current trends hold, Republicans could hold a razor-thin majority in the House. In this scenario, they would have started with 220, but Representative Matt Gaetz resigned from his seat after President-elect Donald Trump named him the nominee for attorney general. The former Florida lawmaker also said he would not return to Congress after removing himself from consideration for attorney general.
This sent their numbers down to 219.
Representative Elise Stefanik will also resign after Trump nominated her for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The same goes for Representative Mike Waltz, who will become the national security adviser.
Stefanik will require Senate confirmation, while Waltz will not.
Depending on the timing of their resignations, Republicans could fall as low as 217 against 215 Democrats. That means the GOP will have little room for error in the first votes of the next Congress.
However, these vacancies won’t be permanent, as states will hold special elections next year to fill their seats.
