Democrats grin and bear it as they set example for Republicans on peaceful transfer of power
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‘I can feel proud that we’re acting as constitutional patriots,’ Representative Jamie Raskin tells Eric Garcia on the four-year anniversary of the Capitol riot. Four years after she found herself just 20 feet away from a “viable” pipe bomb amid the Capitol riot as her victory as vice president was to be certified, Kamala Harris stood on the dais in the House of Representatives next to one of the men who battled to overturn that election for Donald Trump.
![[Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland led the impeachment of Trump after January 6. He did so in the shadow of his son Tommy’s suicide.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/02/09/21/GettyImages-1231064398.jpg)
Harris was a California senator on January 6, 2021 preparing to step up as second-in-command to Joe Biden while Mike Johnson, a backbencher Republican congressman from Louisiana, fought to keep Trump in the White House. But Monday the two of them stood side-by-side in front of a joint session of Congress, Johnson having risen to speaker of the House and Harris defeated by Trump in the race to the White House.
![[Vice President Kamala Harris reaches out to comfort Michael Gallego, son of Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego after he expressed his regret that Harris lost the presidential election during a ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol last Friday.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/06/21/GettyImages-2192326127.jpg)
“I did what I have done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath I have taken many times to defend the Constitution of the United States, which included today performing my constitutional duties to ensure that the people of America will have their votes counted, that those votes matter,” she said. “I do believe very strongly that America’s democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it.”.
![[Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., cleaned up debris and trash strewn across the floor in the early morning hours of Thursday. In November, he became New Jersey’s senator.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/01/08/05/urnpublicidap-1.orgc024fd13b41e46fa943217d57922bdf9)
Harris, who will leave her job in two weeks, has spent the last days welcoming Republicans as they come into power as part of her official duties as president of the Senate. JD Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio who will take her job, has watched her from the audience. Trump chose Vance as his running mate instead of his one-time vice president Mike Pence, who refused to overturn the election results four years ago.
