DES MOINES, Iowa – Ashley Hinson, the Republican Congresswoman-Elect in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, during a press call on Friday afternoon, called the lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging the presidential election results in four battleground states “a values statement.”
The lawsuit was joined by 18 Republican state attorneys general and over 100 of Hinson’s soon-to-be colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday that she would have Iowa join in support given the opportunity.
“I think what is important to note here is that it is a values statement,” Hinson said responding to a question asked by The Iowa Torch. “There are a lot of challenges with the states and what has happened with this election.”
Noting Reynolds’ remarks in support of the lawsuit and that Attorney General Tom Miller was opposed, she said, “I think we are in a unique position here in Iowa where it is not moving forward, but it is a value statement. I support the President; I believe he deserved re-election. And I believe he has the right to pursue the legal remedies, and we need to let these cases play out.”
So far, President Trump’s campaign or allied attorneys have won only one of their post-election court challenges in state and federal court.
Hinson said that people she spoke with on both sides of the aisle want to make sure their vote is counted and that illegal votes are not counted.
“So I think the reality is people have a lack of trust in the election system right now. And from my perspective, as a state representative, we’ve made changes to our election law in this state so that we do have clear processes in place and things could be executed well on election day. And I think we’ve seen that across the state,” she said.
“But what’s happening across the country right now is, in my mind, neither acceptable or sustainable for our country going forward. So that’s a real problem. And I think, to say the least, this election cycle was chaotic took weeks for votes to be counted,” Hinson stated.
She said that uncertainty represents a bigger problem for democracy.
“I’m going to be looking at some ways, going forward in the next couple weeks that half my staff was looking at if there need to be any federal changes or not or if these states clearly may need to make some changes to their laws to preserve the integrity of our elections,” Hinson added.
She later explained what she meant by calling the lawsuit a “values statement.” She said ultimately the lawsuit is about drawing attention to problems some states have with their election process.
“I support the president, obviously, but I was torn about whether I signed onto a lawsuit like this or not. But the point is that states need to make sure that their elections have the integrity that voters expect. And I think that’s what this is, that’s what this lawsuit is about spotlighting the challenges and making sure that that standard is high. So I think when states engage that, that’s what that statement is saying we want every state to be up to this standard,” Hinson remarked.
Listen to the full press call below:
