GOP House Leader: Recounts, Lawsuits Could Lead to Trump Wins

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 12, 2020. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Lawsuits and recounts could lead to some states flipping from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to President Donald Trump, the top Republican in the House of Representatives said Nov. 12.

“They’re going to recount by hand in Georgia. That’s going to take some time. That’s a close race. We had a close race in the last presidential. Let’s let all of them carry out, and yeah, some of them could switch,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters in Washington.

Georgia’s secretary of state on Nov. 11 ordered a hand recount because the margin between Biden and Trump was within 1 percent.

Recounts are being sought in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and the Trump campaign wants an audit of the votes in Arizona, where he’s been gaining steadily on his challenger as more batches of ballots are counted.

McCarthy said he mostly focuses on House races and pointed to a race in New Jersey that The Associated Press called on election night for Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.).

But Republican Tom Kean has continued to gain votes since then, and Malinowski’s lead has dropped under 10,000, with tens of thousands of votes left to count.

“Tom Kean is coming back up because of the manner of this election is different than others. A lot of vote-by-mail. Some states have done it before and others have not. Some mailed it to everybody. So when they counted, some counted certain votes coming in and it would be disproportionate. Democrats more likely voted in the absentee portion and Republicans overwhelmingly voted on Election Day. Each area doesn’t count them the same.

“So in this case in New Jersey, they counted the votes based upon when they came in, so it looked like a member had a really high margin, so they called the vote. Now we’re seeing it trickle down. So the new ones that are counting: Tom Kean is winning by 63 percent,” McCarthy said.

“So the answer to your question is one could. And it’s best because everybody took the time to go vote; let’s wait until we have all the information.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, left, and President Donald Trump in file photographs. Getty Images; Reuters

Many media outlets called the presidential race for Biden over the weekend but Trump’s campaign filed a flurry of lawsuits in battleground states and is holding out hope that he'll end up on top.

The Epoch Times isn’t calling the race until the legal battles and recounts play out.

Trump has 232 Electoral College votes while Biden has 227, according to an Epoch Times tally, not counting the six contested states of Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Biden is ahead in all contested states in the current counts.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), speaking just before McCarthy, told reporters that Trump should give up.

“The Republican refusal to deal with reality is hurting our country, in many ways, fighting the health crisis of COVID, improving our economy, and not compromising on national security,” Schumer said.

“It’s time to move on and get to work for the American people.”