I November of ‘84, a Dem member of Congress from southern Indiana was defeated. It was close but was certified by the Sec of State.
It wouldn’t have changed the house one bit. The Dems were firmly in charge. But that didn’t stop them. They refused to seat the incoming GOP rep,(Richard McCloskey)and decided to review the contested paper ballots themselves.
In the House Administration Committee, they reviewed and reviewed the contested paper ballots ‘til they got the numbers they wanted and seated the defeated dem incumbent (McCloskey) on a mostly party-line vote in the House. A few southern Dems defected and voted with the Republicans but the final vote wasn’t close.
It was a chaotic time in the House. The Republicans were infuriated that the Dems would try to lord the House seat over them - one seat that wouldn’t have changed a thing. There was real talk of civil disobedience on the House floor and a lot of really angry invective in committee and on the floor. Even the so-called RINO’s and country club Republicans were really angry.
It was incidents like these that led to the rise of a little known GOP House member from Georgia by the name of Newt Gingrich.
Sorry, a typo in my previous post...
McIntyre was the GOP member who won the race.
McCloskey was the defeated House member who was given his seat back.