House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in his first Capitol Hill news conference since Election Day, touted the gains Republicans made in the election and said American voters took a decisive stand against socialism.
“This election cycle has made one thing clear: The Republican Party is now the party of the American worker,” McCarthy told reporters on Nov. 12.
Republicans made gains in the House, netting five seats so far, with 22 races still not called. A recent race call in Alaska gave Republicans their 50th Senate seat, so the GOP needs to win just one of two Georgia runoff races to hold their majority.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), last week commented on the Democrats’ relatively weak showing in House races, saying, “We did not win every battle in the House, but we did win the war.” She also said Democratic nominee Joe Biden “has a strong mandate to lead, and he’ll have a strong Democratic House with him and many Democrats in the Senate.”
McCarthy, in his remarks Thursday, said the election “was a mandate against socialism. It was a mandate against defunding the police. It was a mandate against wasting a majority that the Democrats have done for the last Congress.”
In the press conference, McCarthy also questioned whether Biden would be declared the eventual winner of the presidential race, citing the need to count every vote.
“Every recount needs to be finished,” McCarthy said, responding to a question from a reporter who cited Democrat leaders claiming that the Trump team’s election-related lawsuits are “jeopardizing the democracy of America.”
“Not at all,” McCarthy responded. “You’ve got a hand recount going on in Georgia. Every recount needs to be finished. You’ve got challenges inside courts. Every challenge needs to be heard.”
“Regardless of who you support in this election, at the end of the day, we want America to be united,” he said. “Regardless of how this outcome is, you want to be able to trust the election. If there was something that was wrong in this election, we do not want to repeat it for the future, either,” he added.
“When you have more than 150 million Americans voting, let’s make sure we get this right,” McCarthy said.
A number of mainstream news outlets on Nov. 7 called the race for Biden, who later claimed victory in a speech.
Biden’s claim to the title of “president-elect” prompted pushback from Trump, who in a statement claimed that some media outlets are seeking to downplay claims of election irregularities in order to prematurely cement a Biden victory.
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: They don’t want the truth to be exposed,” Trump said.
“The American people are entitled to an honest election: That means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election,” Trump added.
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