WASHINGTON – Michelle Fischbach’s first main vote in Congress sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The newly elected Republican representing western Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District voted to not certify the Electoral Faculty votes of two states. She did so simply hours after a mob incited by President Donald Trump‘s false claims of a stolen election stormed into the Capitol, attacking police and trying to interrupt into the Senate and the Home, the place Fischbach voted.

“This election was shrouded in allegations of irregularities and fraud too voluminous to disregard,” stated Fischbach in a press release issued earlier than the assault on the Capitol, calling for a “correct investigation” of unproven fraud claims which have been dismissed by dozens of federal courts. She declined to be interviewed for this story.

Fischbach swept into workplace using a wave of assist for Trump, toppling longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson. With Trump impeached this week for inciting a lethal mob, and influential allies breaking from the embattled chief, Fischbach is dealing with a brand new problem as certainly one of a shrinking variety of Republicans in Congress nonetheless sticking with the president.

Already, Fischbach and different members of Congress claiming voter fraud have confronted pushback. Some main companies minimize them off from political contributions saying they, just like the rioters, attacked democracy. Some teams referred to as for her removing from Congress. Two of her extra senior fellow Republicans — Reps. Tom Emmer and Pete Stauber — voted to certify Democrat Joe Biden‘s victory.

Dean Urdahl, a veteran Republican state consultant from Fischbach’s district, stated her early votes and positioning are in step with the beliefs of the voters who elected her. Trump acquired 64% of the vote in her district.

“The Seventh District went solidly for Trump,” stated Urdahl, of Grove Metropolis. “There are nonetheless folks within the district with a powerful perception that one thing was incorrect. I am positive she was desirous about that” when she voted to overturn the election.

Fischbach tied herself to Trump in the course of the marketing campaign, and she or he painted Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and different Democrats as radical socialists. She defeated Peterson, a 30-year incumbent who chaired the Agriculture Committee in a district whose chief financial engine is farming and livestock manufacturing and processing.

Urdahl predicted that the “hostile results” Fischbach will undergo for voting towards certifying a Democratic president in a chamber managed by Democrats shall be “quick time period.”

“Two years is an eternity in politics,” Urdahl added. “Loads of issues happening proper now will not be related or impactful in two years” when Fischbach stands for re-election.

Fischbach does plan to attend Biden‘s inauguration subsequent week.

Even because the overwhelming majority within the Republican-led Senate voted to certify Biden‘s win, Fischbach acquired political cowl from greater than 100 different Trump loyalists within the Home, together with Republican Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who voted as she did.

“I used to be not shocked by her vote, given her rhetoric over the previous couple of years,” stated College of Minnesota, Morris political scientist Tim Lindberg. “She was on the aspect of Trump and on the aspect of disinformation.”

Marty Seifert, a former Republican Home minority chief from Marshall, stated that he, like “most individuals,” believed the Electoral Faculty votes needs to be licensed, not overturned. However Fischbach’s certification vote “shall be historic historical past by the point she stands for re-election.”

Fischbach has proved to be a savvy politician deeply enmeshed in Republican politics. The primary lady to function Minnesota Senate president, Fischbach turned the state’s lieutenant governor for a yr when Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Democrat Tina Smith to fill the unexpired time period of Sen. Al Franken, who resigned.

Her subsequent check shall be establishing clout in Congress. Freshman legislators have a troublesome time getting payments handed, stated Lara Brown, the professor who runs George Washington College’s graduate program in political administration. Those that alienate colleagues seemingly face an much more tough problem.

“The standard of the folks you entice to work with you goes down because the controversy goes up,” Brown stated.

Committee assignments haven’t been introduced. If Fischbach fails to get a seat on the Agriculture Committee, it will likely be the primary time in many years that the Seventh District has not been represented on that important panel.

Minnesota Farm Bureau President Kevin Paap, whose group endorsed Peterson, stated if she does get a seat, “we shall be doing all we will to get her on top of things on ag points.”

Fischbach will stand for re-election after Minnesota attracts new congressional districts primarily based on the 2020 census. Regardless of the make-up of that district, GWU’s Brown stated Fischbach’s vote irreversibly marries her future to Trump‘s.

“If Trump remains to be flying excessive in two years, she may be capable to journey that to a different time period,” Brown stated. “But when Trump is indicted or in other forms of bother … her complete repute — good or dangerous — will pivot round Trump.”

Jim Spencer • 202-662-7432