Major corporations quickly came out with announcements of pausing donations to Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election victory in January. Specifically, the closing of the corporate coffers was a reaction to the Capitol Hill riot on January 6. Now there is a House race in Iowa which Democrats are trying to steal from the Republican who has been certified by state officials as the winner. Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, now demand that turnabout is fair play.

If the corporations making a statement against overturning the results of an election are sincere, it should not be a problem to speak out against a brazen power grab by House Democrats. In this case, the House seat being challenged is held by Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Her victory in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional district, by just six votes, was certified and she was seated by Speaker Pelosi. Miller-Meeks’ Democrat opponent, however, is continuing to claim that the election results should not be certified because she challenges 22 votes in her race. Rita Hart says those votes were wrongfully discarded. She claims if they had not been tossed out, she would have won by a margin of nine votes. Hart asked Pelosi to overturn the results and seat her. The challenge was sent to the House Administration Committee for review.

Pelosi raised eyebrows earlier this month when questioned about the attempted power grab going on by some Democrats in the House who want the speaker to decertify the House election and seat Hart. Pelosi said she could see a scenario where that might happen. Hart never took her case to court so there has been no legal ruling for her to point to as verification of her win. Now that time is marching on, though, Pelosi finds herself in a position of losing Democrat support for overturning the Iowa race. Naturally, the media paints this objection from Republicans against such a brazen third-world style power grab as overwrought. Republicans did very well in the November election by not losing a House seat and gained enough to shrink the Democrat majority to only 9. Republicans flipped 12 seats, Democrats flipped only 3. Democrats are desperate to hold on to as many seats as possible. This, however, is not the way to do it.

After the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, large corporations made a point to virtue-signal that they were taking a pause on writing checks to Republican lawmakers. Marriott International Inc, the world’s largest hotel company, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) were some of the first to take a public stand. They pledged to take a break from contributing to any Republican lawmaker who voted ‘no’ to accepting the votes of state electors. It was a predictable move, given the outrage and disapproval of most Americans about the protest that turned into a riot on Capitol Hill. Corporations have been under pressure since the rise of Black Lives Matter marches and protests (which often turn violent) to prove their level of wokeness. JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup also made public statements against donating to Republicans.

A letter was written and signed by Senate Republicans yesterday demanding fair treatment. Writing to “all companies who support free and fair elections”, the senators asked that the same action be taken against Democrats trying to overturn the Iowa House race. It is noteworthy that Senator McConnell signed on with the other signatories. His participation adds heft to the demand, making it more than just some disgruntled senators registering a complaint. None of the senators who co-authored the letter voted ‘no’ on certifying the presidential election. The other senators are Tom Cotton, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Joni Ernst. Cotton is frequently mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2024. Grassley and Ernst are the senators who represent Iowa.

“We are asking you to apply the same standard to this attempt to overturn an election that you applied to the Republicans who objected to certain states’ electoral votes,” the senators write.

“If you decide to not speak out about this brazen attempt to steal an election, some may question the sincerity of your earlier statements and draw the conclusion that your actions were partisan instead of principled.”

Cotton and McConnell made statements about the move.

“If the businesses who condemned Republicans in January don’t condemn Democrats for doing the same, everyone will question whether these companies are truly committed to free elections,” Cotton said in a statement on the letter.

McConnell called the prospect of a House vote on the seat “absurd” and said Democrats “want to use brute political power to overturn a democratic result because they lost.”

They aren’t wrong. This is a perfect opportunity for corporate donors to show bi-partisan support for free and fair elections. Are corporations willing to support both sides of the aisle in a public way or are they only concerned about caving to the demands of the woke crowd? We’ll see where this letter and its demand goes from here.