South Carolina Republican Congressman Tom Rice has apologized and says that he now regrets voting against the certification of Joe Biden’s election in the House of Representatives. Rice apparently had enough doubts about the legitimacy of the 2020 election to support legal action and vote against certification but he subsequently voted to impeach Donald Trump and he now says that he regrets his support for the former president.
South Carolina Congressman regrets vote
The apology provided by Rice does nothing at all to make him look less duplicitous, which was apparently the objective for the Republican Congressman.
Rice claims that he knew that voting to object to the certification was wrong but that he did it anyway because he had previously pledged to his constituents that he would not vote to certify.
Even now he admits that he thinks that there were “real issues with the election.” Even if he did only vote against certification because he did not want to go back on his word, something prompted his initial promise.
Rice clearly believed at some point that there were real doubts about the validity of the election results. He didn’t learn any new information which assuaged those doubts because, by his own admission, he still has concerns about election integrity.
The Republican claims he did not want to go back on his word when the time came to vote but why would he? His actual views on the issue had not changed at all.
Rice says that Trump is a coward but what does that make him? He was either afraid to vote his conscience at the time or he is now afraid to stand by his vote. Either way he looks like a weasel.
Still claims to have concerns about election
If you believe, as Rice did, that there is legitimate cause to doubt the results of an election then it is your duty as a Congressman to object to those questionable results.
Rice acknowledges that he supported and campaigned for the president in 2016 and 2020 but chose to vote for impeachment in January.
That put the South Carolina Congressman in a very difficult position. Republicans dislike that impeachment vote and Democrats despise the vote to object to the certification.
Apologizing now won’t do much to win over Democrats but perhaps Rice thinks it’s worth a shot. He is wrong about that if he expects it to save his political career.
The Democrats have no need for a former Trump supporter on their side and Republicans will not overlook the discrepancies in his justification for the votes.
Several Republicans who have made similar decisions have already announced that they are leaving Congress. Representative Rice should consider following their example.
