The midterm election results show that election reform is necessary across the United States, says Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), who pointed out the curious fact that Republicans appeared to do better in elections in states where election security laws had already been passed.
Tenney easily won reelection in New York’s 22nd Congressional District, receiving 66.4% of the vote compared to her Democrat challenger, Steven Holden, who received 33.6%. The district is deep-red, and has voted for former President Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections.
Appearing on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” on Sunday, Tenney argued that the United States has “a problem with elections” — stating that this was why she “started the House Election Integrity Caucus.”
She then pointed out that the states that had enacted reforms to strengthen election integrity ended up electing Republicans in the midterms.
“If you look at the races where we did very well, look at the laws that were passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, laws that have been passed because of a lawsuit in Ohio that used to be so problematic, they were well-done elections,” Tenney said.
According to the Republican congresswoman, preserving election integrity means maximizing voter turnout while also ensuring that every vote counts and that there is just “one citizen, one vote.”
Tenney went on to note that, while Democrats may be winning “by ballots,” Republicans are winning on policy issues and are actually trying to earn the votes of the American people.
“Democrats don’t even worry about that,” she added. “They don’t debate. They are winning on process.”
Tenney argued that a candidate like Senator-elect John Fetterman (D-PA) — who has been experiencing severe health issues as a result of a stroke that have raised concerns about his ability to perform his duties in office — was only able to win the election because Democrats “got ballots in the box,” not actually because he worked to earn the votes of his constituents.
This is true. Nancy Pelosi openly and famously stated that the Democrats could run a “glass of water” as long as it had a D in front of its name. https://t.co/JyVTlbbRYy
— Claudia Tenney (@claudiatenney) November 13, 2022
“How is this guy going to be a U.S. senator?” she asked. “It’s because they got ballots in the box, not because they earned votes.”
Tenney also discussed the midterm elections in her state, noting that there were good candidates at the top of the ticket — citing Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who “grossly outspent” him.
“Sadly New York is going to be stuck with her for a while unless she self-destructs,” Tenney said, adding that Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign was a “great grassroots effort.”
“We still have to get more people out, more Republicans and Independents and like-minded Democrats to understand that we are on the precipice of losing our state,” she added. “And Lee’s campaign, ‘Save Our State,’ was a great slogan for us.”
Meanwhile, GOP Representative-elect Mike Lawler won the election for New York’s 17th Congressional District, beating incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney by just one percentage point so far, as the Associated Press has called the race for the Republican candidate with 95% of votes reported.
Tenney asserted that Lawler’s victory was huge, adding that she knew that the GOP candidate would make the race a tough one.
“He ran a really good campaign and didn’t make any mistakes,” she said, while Maloney “took him for granted.”
The Republican congresswoman called the GOP’s wins in New York “incredible,” as the party flipped four House seats, noting that “we just need a little more money and a little more time when you think about we are grossly… underspent when you compare us with Democrats.”
