In response to a call for election integrity by U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes (D-OH-Akron) tweeted, “No thank you.”
Sykes’ statement came after Paul tweeted, “That’s why I’ll spend the next two years going to every state legislature trying to fix the laws, protect our vote and stop election fraud.”
https://twitter.com/EmiliaSykesOH/status/1353415835373678593
Paul was making a series of tweets that started with, “Partisan Democrats in the media think they can get away with just calling Republicans liars because they don’t agree with us. Watch me stand up to one here.”
Partisan Democrats in the media think they can get away with just calling Republicans liars because they don’t agree with us. Watch me stand up to one here: https://t.co/nwmEoAJ5zt
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 24, 2021
Paul was on the ABC show “This Week” on Sunday. The host is George Stephanopoulos. The topic was intended to be the potential impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Video of the interview is here.
The argument began when Stephanopoulos said the election had not been stolen, and challenged Paul to concur.
Paul refused, pointing out the many irregularities in the election such as illegal voters and actions taken by secretaries of state, and he held out the possibility of U.S. Supreme Court action. A visibly irritated Stephanopoulos interrupted him, claiming there was no proof of fraud.
Stephanopoulos said 75 percent of Republicans claim there was fraud because “they were fed a big lie by President Trump and his supporters.”
Paul pointed out that Stephanopoulos was interjecting himself into the middle of the story and dismissing Republicans’ concerns instead of interviewing someone else who makes that claim – the “historical” way a journalist would work.
Paul said he would spend the next two years “going from state to state” to address election fraud.
Paul’s tweet thread also said, “I voted to certify the electors and seat the new President. It’s not about that anymore. They won’t even admit there is election fraud and want to pretend nothing happened.”
I voted to certify the electors and seat the new President. It’s not about that anymore. They won’t even admit there is election fraud and want to pretend nothing happened.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 24, 2021
In 2019, Sykes was one of the Ohio Democrats leading the #StopthePurge effort, in objection to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Ohio could purge inactive voters from the rolls, The Ohio Star reported.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Ohio State Rep Sykes” by Rep. Sykes and “Sen Rand Paul” is by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
