Maloney says Democrats will accept election outcomes  

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Sunday that his party will accept election results in the upcoming midterm elections as well as future ones. 

“Of course, we’ll accept the outcome of the elections. Always have, always will,” Maloney said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”  

The New York Democrat said he and others in his party are “very concerned” about election integrity, but that they’ll ultimately accept the results of a fair election. 

“It’s perfectly legitimate for both parties to make sure that voting is fair, that there’s no fraud, that when votes are cast, that people have a right to cast them or don’t. And that’s normal. And in a close election, you might have a recount, you might have other examination of absentee ballots, that’s all run of the mill stuff,” Maloney said.  

“What’s different is people showing up with weapons and sitting in the back of a pickup truck next to a drop box trying to scare the tar out of people who are just exercising, exercising their vote. What’s different is when a president, for the first time in our history, says he was cheated out of the results when he knows that’s a lie.”  

The midterm landscape has been fraught with election security concerns as many in the GOP continue to tout former President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and reject the results of the 2020 presidential election.  

The country is now facing a shortage of election workers amid an uptick in threats against election officials and poll workers. Last week, armed “vigilantes” in tactical gear posted outside of a ballot drop box in Arizona and the state referred a separate case of possible voter intimidation to the Justice Department.

With the midterms just over a week away, worries are up that some candidates won’t accept the results of the races they’re in.  

“Let’s not pretend for a minute that both sides have the same, the same amount of accountability for the loss of confidence in our elections. One side has been out there for a couple of years now doing everything they can to pretend Joe Biden didn’t win fair and square when he did. And that’s the difference,” Maloney said Sunday. 

“We’re very concerned about the integrity of our elections, especially when people are trying to intimidate people with weapons, when they’re engaged in these tactics to try to undermine confidence. Now we’re- we’re going to accept the results of the election. That’s- That’s the American way.”