Paul Mitchell, a outgoing Michigan congressman, said Monday that he is leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent party to protest his former party’s attempts to overturn President-elect Biden’s victory.
Representative Mitchell van Dryden is nearing the end of his second and final term. He wrote a letter the same day to Republican National Committee Chairman Ronna McDaniel and Kevin McCarthy, the House’s minority leader. voters have formalized Mr. Biden’s victory.
“It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our electoral system as if we were a Third World country and to arouse suspicion against something as fundamental as the sanctity of our vote,” he said.
Mitchell said he voted for Mr. Trump despite some reservations about four more years of leadership. He criticized the GOP leaders for tolerating “baseless conspiracy theories” without defending a secure election process. He did not join 106 House Republicans who signed a lawsuit in Texas – rejected by the Supreme Court – that tried to invalidate the results in Michigan and three other states.
“I believe that raw political considerations, and not concerns about the constitution or voting integrity, motivate many in party leaders to support the ‘stop stealing’ attempts, which is extremely disappointing to me,” Mitchell wrote. As elected members of Congress, we take an oath to “ support and defend the Constitution of the United States, ” not to protect the political interests of any individual, be it the President or anyone else, and to the detriment of our dear nation. “
“As a result, I am writing to advise both of you that I withdraw from my engagement and association with the Republican Party at both the national and state levels,” added Mitchell. “… I also request that the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives change my party membership to Independent for the remainder of my term. While it is symbolic, we all know that symbols matter.”