Scoop: Johnson, Jeffries duel over certifying 2024 election
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Mike Johnson attend a statue unveiling at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 24, 2024. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) are at each other's throats over which party can truly be trusted to certify the 2024 election, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Lawmakers in both parties, including Johnson himself, have floated conditions for certifying the results if the opposing party wins.
- Johnson enraged Democrats in September by saying that, if he is speaker on Jan. 6, the House would "follow the Constitution" on certifying a win for Vice President Harris as long as the election is "free, fair and safe."
- Republicans have pointed to similar comments several senior Democrats made to Axios about a victory for former President Trump – though Democratic leaders have signaled a firm commitment to certifying the results.
Driving the news: In an exclusive interview late last month, Johnson reacted strongly to House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) telling Axios that if Trump "won a free, fair and honest election, then we would obviously accept it."
- "I would hope every member of Congress, including Jamie Raskin, would commit to following the Constitution and certifying the election," Johnson said.
- He added: "We are doing everything we can to ensure that it's a free and fair and fair and legal election, and that's what I expect is going to be the outcome. And I would hope every single person would fulfill their oath."
The other side: In an appearance Monday on Good Morning America, Jeffries noted that a majority of House Republicans voted to object to President Biden's electors in Arizona and Pennsylvania in 2021.
- "My colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't seem to be capable of unequivocally saying that they will certify the election and the verdict that is rendered by the American people," he said.
- Jeffries suggested his side will certify a Trump victory, saying : "As House Democrats, that's what we will do. We believe in democracy even when we disagree with the outcome."
Zoom in: Raskin, in a statement to Axios, said he is "of course committed to following the Constitution and certifying the actual results of the 2024 presidential election, and I'm thrilled to learn that Speaker Johnson says he is too."
- "That's, of course, not what Republicans did in 2020, nor is it what many members of their party are previewing this cycle," he continued.
Zoom out: Republicans have been raising the specter of a wide-ranging effort to challenge the election result if Trump loses.
- Trump himself has already begun to cast doubt on election processes, with his allies filing more than 100 preemptive lawsuits.
- House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) went so far as to suggest that North Carolina legislators consider unilaterally picking their winner of their state's electors.
