Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida has been mentioned as a member of former President Donald Trump’s shortlist for possible vice presidential picks.
On Thursday, Donalds said that if he was actually in that role and there were shenanigans with the 2028 election, he would not vote to certify the winner.
It would be a matter of adhering to the rule of law, the Naples Republican added.
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During an interview with Axios, Donalds was first asked if he would have certified the 2020 election under the circumstances at the time.
The congressman replied repeatedly that it was a question for then-Vice President Mike Pence.
But then the conversation shifted to 2028, with the scenario of Donalds as the VP.
He was asked if he would certify the election if he did not like the presumed winner.
Donalds replied by saying it would depend on what was happening in individual states.
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He then followed with real-world examples from 2020: When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court changed the law on mail-in ballots in real time, or a county in Wisconsin, which ignored state laws regarding verification of signatures on ballots.
In both cases, Donalds said, those officials cited the “emergency” of COVID-19 as the reason to change laws on the fly.
“If you have state officials who are violating the election law in their states because of an ’emergency’ without going through the legislative process, which is by our Constitution and by every law in our states, then no, I would not,” Donalds said. “Because the law has to stand regardless.”
“If the law does not stand, then what do we have? We can’t be a society that chooses to just get our outcomes regardless of how we feel about the person running or not running,” he continued. “We have to follow the law.”
“And every elected official has the responsibility to uphold the law, despite popular opinion. That is the reality, and that is the responsibility of an elected official.”
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“As long as procedures in the states are being followed to the law that was outlined by the Legislature and signed by governors and it was followed, of course you do,” he added.
But he suggested that it would be acceptable to reject election results if there was hard evidence that duly passed election laws were dismissed.
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