Texas Republican says ‘whoever wins’ 2024 election, the public must ‘support the president’

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) stressed the importance of maintaining confidence in the 2024 election results and supporting “whoever wins” the presidency this November.

“Whoever wins, I view myself as an American, and we need to make sure that we support the president the United States going forward,” Gonzales said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” with Chris Stirewalt.

That sentiment was expressed in a recent “Unity Commitment” letter signed by 32 bipartisan House members, who pledged to uphold the results of the election.

“It makes a lot of sense,” Gonzales said about the letter’s message, but he said he still hasn’t “completely decided yet” whether he will sign it.

“I’m not exactly confident that a letter, a strongly written letter, is the right approach,” Gonzales said.

“I’m really serious about this,” he continued. “But the fact that we have so many members already thinking about this just goes to show how contentious the next Congress is going to be, why it’s important that we need to come together and go, ‘Wait a second here. Let’s get it right on the front end and make sure that the American people are behind us after the election.’”

Gonzales advocated for the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, commonly referred to as the SAVE Act, which Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has sought to attach to a continuing resolution to keep the government open.

The bill would require documentary proof of citizenship upon registration, which Gonzales says will help the American people feel confident that the elections are, in fact, safe and secure.

Many Democrats, who oppose the legislation, say it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote and that there’s no reason to make it more difficult for citizens to vote by requiring a form of government-issued ID that is expensive or difficult to obtain. They also say there is no proof that noncitizen voting is a prevalent issue in the country’s elections.

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