What is Pelosi required to accept? If you don’t actually have to win the seat, how do you get to be a Congress critter?
A seat does not have to be filled if no one is deemed qualified for it by the House or the Senate. In post 70, OldDeckHand pointed out that a lawsuit could be brought by the elected official, so it behooves the House and Senate to have an extremely good reason to deprive the citizens of representation. Such a decision apparently goes to a committee for inquiry and then to the floor for a vote, so it’s not strictly up to the Speaker of the Majority Leader.
Victor L. Berger (early 1900s’ Wisconsin socialist/anti-war politician, charged with espionage, but his constituents didn’t care) was denied the seat he won in back-to-back elections. The House decided to leave the seat vacant until the next election. Several years later, after the charges were dropped, he won again and was seated.
NY-23 is a fill-in election and the House could refuse to seat Hoffman, particularly since Democrats have the majority. Elections cost money, after all. At least, Owens would be out...I hope.