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Pelosi Warns Democrats That the Presidential Race Could Be Thrown Into the House

The House speaker told Democrats this weekend that the scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, is entirely plausible.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly urged Democrats to prepare for the explosive election outcome of neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump winning an outright Electoral College victory, which would leave the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide. Politico reports that Pelosi wrote to House Democrats this weekend to say that the scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, is entirely plausible. If it happens, the party that controls more state delegations in the chamber will decide who becomes president—and Republicans control 26 delegations to the Democrats’ 22. “The Constitution says that a candidate must receive a majority of the state delegations to win,” Pelosi wrote. “We must achieve that majority of delegations or keep the Republicans from doing so.” According to the report, Trump has also privately discussed the possibility of the presidential race being thrown into the House, and has noted his party’s slim advantage as things stand.