Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI) spoke with CNN on Monday and announced that he is leaving the Republican Party of his “disgust and disappointment” with Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine democracy and overturn the 2020 election.
“This party has to stand up for democracy first, for our Constitution first, and not political considerations,” Mitchell said on CNN’s “The Lead.”
“Not to protect a candidate. Not simply for raw political power, and that’s what I feel is going on and I’ve had enough.”
Mitchell, who is retiring from office at the end of this session of Congress, fears that the House GOP leadership is heading the wrong direction by tending to Trump’s conspiracy theories about the election.
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It is “unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,” Mitchell wrote in his letter, which was sent Monday.
Mitchell noted that Republican leaders had been “collectively sit(ting) back and tolerat(ing) unfounded conspiracy theories and ‘stop the steal’ rallies without speaking out for our electoral process,” and the last straw for him seemed to be “the leadership of the Republican Party and our Republican Conference in the House actively participating in at least some of those efforts.”
He echoed that message later Monday, saying on CNN that, “Anybody that gets in politics has to be willing to accept winning and losing with some level of grace or maturity. I’ve done both. Losing is brutal, it’s personal, it hurts, but if you’re not willing to accept that, you should not be in political leadership.”
“This country needs it desperately and, unfortunately, we haven’t seen it demonstrated as much as we should.”
Last week, 126 House Republicans joined in an effort to overthrow the election results to keep Trump in power.
You can read the full CNN report HERE.
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