DMR Ed Board calls on Hart to concede

Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register published an extraordinary editorial where they called on Rita Hart, their endorsed candidate in IA-02, to concede.

The DMR is just one of a growing chorus of voices across the political spectrum in Iowa who are speaking out against Hart’s decision to bypass the Iowa courts and ask Nancy Pelosi to throw out the election results.

Some key excerpts:

“In Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, Rita Hart, the loser by six votes to Mariannette Miller-Meeks, has picked a path that will inflame. Her team skipped the appeal process available through Iowa’s courts and elected to petition a U.S. House of Representatives panel to oversee a recount, before the full House decides the outcome.

“It’s true that this is a legal path and that there are legitimate reasons to question the fairness of aspects of Iowa’s recount process. But even if Hart prevails, a decision that’s ultimately made by a Democratic-controlled House will forever taint her service in Congress. And the move could well backfire on her party, providing Iowa Republicans a potent rallying cry of Democratic chicanery for years in races up and down the ballot.”

[…]

“Hart could have granted a powerful endorsement to Iowa’s election system by conceding. She should reconsider and do that now, for the sake of her party and all Iowans. Iowa doesn’t need more partisan bile infecting its politics, especially at a time when state government and its congressional delegation should be focused on helping Iowans stay safe in the COVID-19 pandemic and weather its financial hardships.”

[…]

“Meanwhile, all Iowans should welcome Miller-Meeks as a new member of Iowa’s congressional delegation. Miller-Meeks served in the U.S. Army for 24 years, where she gained her training as an ophthalmologist. She worked in private practice in Ottumwa, served as a director of the Iowa Department of Public Health and was elected as a state senator in 2018.”

[…]