Senior Democratic Party lawmakers are reportedly concerned that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson could try and sabotage a Kamala Harris election victory.
Top-level meetings are secretly being held to guard against several eventualities that could impede the smooth transfer of power if Donald Trump loses in November, according to Politico.
While Democratic lawmakers say such a scenario is unlikely, they worry how Johnson will react if the Republicans retain control of the House and oversee Harris being certified as president.
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In the past, the certification was a relative formality, but the January 6, 2021, uprising has thrown the process into doubt.
“It would be silly to ignore the history here,” Rep Joe Morelle (D-NY), senior Democrat on the House Administration Committee, told Politico’s Playbook.
“I have faith in people,” he said, adding that he thinks Johnson would “do the right thing.”
But he said: “We’re prepared for any eventuality and…we’ll be in a position to press forward and make sure there’s a peaceful transfer.”
Another concern, says Politico, is that Johnson may want to win the further approval of Trump and his MAGA supporters by vowing to challenge the election results if they go against the GOP.
Their worries are tempered by the fact that Harris will preside over the certification as vice president. In 2021, Mike Pence famously continued with the count for an opposition party president; in 2025, Harris would be certifying herself.
The Electoral Count Act was also changed in 2022 to require 20% of each chamber to object to the vote count.
But Politico theorized four possible ways that Johnson and Trump supporters could challenge a Harris victory.
He could rewrite the rules for the certification that have been in place for over a century, object to contested blocks of electoral votes, delay the vote count, or throw a roadblock into the entire process by challenging the Electoral Count Act.
A Johnson aide dismissed the claims as part of an “alarmist narrative” from Democrats.
