House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday would not commit to certifying the 2024 election results if Kamala Harris wins over Donald Trump:
“Do you commit to observing regular order in the certification process of the 2024 election, even if Kamala Harris beats Donald Trump?” a reporter asked the Speaker during GOP leadership’s weekly news conference.
“Of course. If we have a free, fair, and safe election, we’re gonna follow the Constitution,” the Louisiana Republican responded.
Johnson this year has already pushed Trump's conspiracy theories to question the veracity of the upcoming election, including by pushing the lie that millions of undocumented immigrants are voting in elections.
Political experts have raised concerns about the possibility that Johnson, should he remain in power after the House elections this November, could throw up roadblocks to the certification should the Republican nominee lose the election. Johnson was a key Trump ally in attempting to overturn his 2020 defeat, filing an amicus briefing in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the results. The United States Supreme Court ended up tossing out the lawsuit, which sought to invalidate Biden’s wins in four swing states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — and give the presidency to Trump.
Johnson would face a tough road to change the actual results in January since Harris, as the current vice president, would preside over the joint House and Senate session in a ceremonial role and call votes if there are enough objections to do so. But critics fear the potential for chaos if Johnson does not certify the results or delays them — a ceremonial and procedural process until Trump and his allies tried to exploit it in 2020 to keep him in power.
