Today I received the regular constituent email newsletter from Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), who unfortunately remains my Congressional representative despite a valiant attempt by Dr. Hiral Tipirneni to unseat him. When you read his first sentence, keep in mind he just voted to overturn the Electoral College results from the 2020 presidential election [emphasis mine], nullifying the votes of millions of Americans:
“I want to offer my congratulations to President Biden and Vice President Harris. [oh really?] I look forward to the 117th Congress getting to work on behalf of the millions of Americans we represent, many still facing extreme hardships due to the last year of unprecedented challenges.“
Like his weasel-y Freedom Caucus cohorts, Schweikert wanted to have it both ways: he wanted to stay in Trump’s good graces even though he was too chicken to join the rest of the Arizona delegation (Andy Biggs, Debbie Lesko, Paul Gosar) in blocking Arizona’s electoral votes. So what does he do? Votes YES to certify Arizona’s electoral votes, but farther down the line he sides with those voting NO on certifying the electoral count from Pennsylvania. And of course, this is just a few hours after the insurrection in the Capitol, when there’s probably still broken glass on the floor.
Here’s this from columnist E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic, Jan. 13:
“Schweikert hid out during the Arizona vote, but he went along with other Republican members of Congress trying to derail the election. He voted not to accept the votes from Pennsylvania.”
“It was a slick move that has allowed Schweikert to fly under the radar.
“It shouldn’t.
“He was just as much a part of the attempted coup as his three colleagues.”
Schweikert knew (and was secretly happy) that voting against Pennsylvania’s electoral vote result wouldn’t actually overturn the results of the election, but he can still go up to his Freedom Caucus colleagues and say, “Well, you can’t say we didn’t try, right?”