During the entirety of President Donald Trump’s (R) time in office, those who opposed the Republican president claimed that the 2016 presidential election was tampered with due to “Russian interference.” Phrases such as “Stolen election”, “Illegitimate president,” and “Abolish the electoral college” were all thrown around after the billionaire businessman from New York shocked the world and defeated former First Lady, Secretary of State, and Senator of New York, Hillary Clinton (D).
When it comes to claims of Russian interference, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) was at the forefront.
In a 2017 article, Murphy was quoted as calling Russian activity during the 2016 election “a direct assault on our democracy.” This is the same language being used today regarding the January 6th Committee (a committee of which Murphy is a part of).
Others in the Democratic Party have called the 2020 election the “safest and most secure election in history.”
However, just a year before the 2020 election, Murphy was worried about the potential of election interference. In a 2019 opinion piece in The Washington Post, Murphy said “Russia will likely use similar tactics in 2020 – to influence whom Americans vote for…While Russia assisted a Republican in 2016, it could aid a Democrat in the future, Moscow’s loyalty is to itself, not any U.S. political party. To defend our democracy, U.S. officials must put America first."
Murphy's apparent hypocrisy about election denying is now evident.
While Murphy accuses Republicans of denying that President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, she has never once come out and denounced the Democrats, including Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani, who called the 2016 election "rigged," or Sen. Clinton for denying the results of that year's election results.
“Rigged Witch Hunt”…the only thing rigged in this was the 2016 presidential election,” stated Eskamani.
Rep. Eskamani is running for reelection this year.
With the eventual outbreak of COVID-19, Democrats were in favor of sending out ballots to nearly every registered voter despite the possible inaccuracies of the address of the voter and the potential of ballot harvesting. Alongside the push to not require Voter ID, calling the notion to mandate the use of verifying voter identification “racist,” these election philosophies brought heavy criticism from Republicans, who claimed they would lead to mass voter fraud.
Within one year, Democrats went from wanting to secure our elections to claiming it was the most secure election in history, despite employing a system that could easily be abused.
This week, Rep. Murphy went on NBC News to talk about the January 6th Committee and American elections moving forward. To see the clip, look below:
The @January6thCmte is determined to protect the sanctity of American democracy not just for this election or the next, but for all the generations after us. pic.twitter.com/e0Adg1K7k2
— U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (@RepStephMurphy) October 19, 2022
“This is about whether the sanctity of American elections here on out will be marred with violence and with fraud, because in a case where that happened, these people were not held accountable," said Murphy/
Just last week, Murphy appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program where the retiring lawmaker alleged that there were "a lot of" Republican presidential election deniers running for office in 2022.
The @January6thCmte is defending democracy and defending our elections for Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Tune in today at 1pm EST for our next hearing.
This morning, I joined @JoeNBC and @morningmika on @Morning_Joe to discuss ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8aBWvBdJkB
— U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (@RepStephMurphy) October 13, 2022
The reality is that we have a lot of election deniers running this cycle, and that's a danger to our democracy..," said Murphy.
Murphy is not seeking reelection this midterm cycle, and Republican congressional nominee Cory Mills is expected the seat she is vacating. Mills has been accused of being one of those "election deniers" Murphy refers to.
In the past, Mills has referred to President Joe Biden as the "selected, not elected" President of the United States.
