{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stanton.house.gov/2021/1/rep-stanton-reject-ill-conceived-attack-our-democracy-0", "Stanton: \u2018Reject this ill-conceived attack on our democracy\u2019", "2021-01-07", "2021", "2021-01", "Democrat", "House", "AZ", "Greg Stanton", "S001211", "stanton.house.gov", "stanton", "https://stanton.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Last night, Rep. Greg Stanton delivered a defense of Arizona\u2019s election results from the House Floor during a Joint Session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote. Stanton\u2019s remarks came after a day of violent attacks on the U.S. Capitol.\n\nHis full remarks as prepared for delivery are below. Video of his speech is available on Twitter and YouTube, included below.\n\nMadam Speaker:\n\nOver the last few hours, we have seen the consequences of dangerous, un-American rhetoric. An armed insurrection against the seat of government of the most powerful country on earth. A breach of this Capitol building to attack Congress \u2013 something that has not taken place since the British occupied this building during the War of 1812. An attempted coup spurred by rhetoric coming from those who are looking out for themselves, not our country.\n\nAnd it is stunning, Madam Speaker, that there are some in this House who have voiced support for what just happened. It was not a protest. It was treason. It was sedition. And it should be prosecuted as such.\n\nAt its root is a disease that has infected our politics, one that will make some political leaders do anything \u2013 including lie and incite violence \u2013 to hold on to power. That\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing before our very eyes.\n\nIn contesting the outcome of this election, my Republican colleagues make a contradictory argument that puts party and power before country. They argue the election results were valid when it showed they won their races, but the same ballots were somehow fraudulent when it produced a result that President Trump did not like. Keep the results we like, they demand, cancel the one we don\u2019t.\n\nThat\u2019s just not how democracy works. And neither is armed insurrection.\n\nHere\u2019s the truth: Arizona has a long, bipartisan record of conducting safe, secure and fair elections \u2013 and I say that as someone whose party has more often than not been on the losing end of those elections. This last election was once again safe and secure, and I commend our state and county elections officials \u2013 public servants on both sides of the aisle \u2013 for making Arizona proud once again.\n\nWe are here because the case that Republicans have brought before us has failed in court over and over and over again.\n\nMy colleagues say, \u201cLet this go back to the state . . . let them decide.\u201d\n\nMy friends, Arizona has spoken. They have sent the correct electors.\n\nArizona\u2019s Republican Attorney General \u2013 one of the most partisan in the country \u2013 said \u201cThere is no evidence, there are no facts that would lead anyone to believe the election results will change.\u201d\n\nThe Republican speaker of our State House has told us: He doesn\u2019t like the results of the election, but they are the right results: Joe Biden has won Arizona.\n\nThe State Supreme Court \u2013 made up entirely of justices appointed by Republican governors \u2013 they have spoken too. The Court said the President\u2019s challenge \u201cfails to present any evidence of \u2018misconduct,\u2019 \u2018illegal votes\u2019 or that the Biden electors \u2018did not in fact receive the highest number of votes for office.\u2019\u201d\n\nLook to the words of one of the President\u2019s own campaign chairs in my state: our governor, Doug Ducey. Our governor loves the President; he\u2019s been so loyal. He made sure the President could hold large rallies in our state in the middle of a pandemic, and the governor personally attended them. They spoke so often the governor gave the President a special \u201cHail to the Chief\u201d ringtone on his phone.\n\nAfter Election Day, as the legal challenges played out, the governor kept quiet. But when the truth became clear, even he acknowledged \u201cJoe Biden did win Arizona.\" I am grateful that, in this instance, the governor put the law \u2013 not partisan politics \u2013 first. And I urge my colleagues in this House to follow his lead.\n\nEach and every one of us in this House \u2013 the People\u2019s House \u2013 swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution against all enemies \u2013 foreign and domestic. Over the last few hours, we have gained a better understanding of what that means.\n\nThe future of Constitution \u2013 the most precious of the founding documents of the greatest democracy humankind has ever known \u2013 is in our hands.\n\nDefending democracy is not \u2013 and should not be \u2013 a partisan task. It is a sacred one. Right here, right now, we must recognize that fidelity to the founding principles of our nation are not about loyalty to one man, but rather to ensure \u201cthat government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.\u201d\n\nThe world is watching all of us right now.\n\nWe must \u2013 we must \u2013 get it right. Reject this ill-conceived attack on our democracy.\n\nI yield back.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:19:43Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stanton.house.gov/2021/1/rep-stanton-reject-ill-conceived-attack-our-democracy-0"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3252671342343092, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}