Rep. Burchett says he will try to block Chevalier's seating over deleted flag post

Right · 2Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said he plans to try to block Democratic nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier from being seated in Congress if she wins the Nov. 3 election. 1 2 Right · 2He told the New York Post he would make the motion when the new Congress convenes in January, using a simple majority to prevent newly elected lawmakers from being seated before they take the oath of office, and that he would do so whether Republicans keep the House or fall into the minority. 1 2 Right · 2Burchett's objection rests on a December 2019 post, since deleted, in which Chevalier wrote: "I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me." She later said she regretted it. 2 1

Right · 2Burchett said: "You take an oath to uphold the Constitution, and and you're pretty much disavowing it right there." He called the comment an affront to his family's military service: his father was a World War II Marine, and his maternal uncle, Roy Hicks, was wounded after D-Day, and Burchett keeps the flag that covered Hicks' coffin in his Knoxville office. 1 2 Right · 2Chevalier, who faces Republican Jomo M. Williams in the general election, defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the primary for New York's 13th Congressional District, covering northern Manhattan and the western Bronx. Breitbart says she was endorsed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and is 32. 2 1 Right · 2Both outlets also cite her past: she co-founded or was a key player in a group that once said it was "fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization." The Post adds that she took part in the 2024 Columbia campus takeover and attended an anti-Israel rally the day after the Oct. 7 attack; Breitbart reports that she said she is "not" a communist but "a democratic socialist." The Post said her campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 1 2

Right · 2The Constitution makes each House the judge of its members' elections and qualifications, and in 1969 the Supreme Court ruled the House had exceeded its authority by excluding Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-NY), who had been duly elected and met the constitutional qualifications. 1 2 Right · 2The effort faces long odds. GOP operative John Feehery, a former senior House leadership aide, said: "If we refused to seat folks in Congress who said things that we strongly disagreed with, nobody in the House would be seated." The Post also quoted USC political scientist Jeffery Jenkins saying contested elections can "muck up the legislative process," and noted there are no election irregularities or qualification issues for Burchett to point to. 1 2