The public wants local jurisdictions to "follow the law" in certifying the vote, Rep. Byron Donalds told CNN's "State of the Union" in a clash with host Dana Bash over 2020 election claims on Sunday.
The argument started when Bash asked the Florida Republican if Congress should follow the Electoral Count Act, which had an update passed two years ago that will apply to certification of next month's presidential election.
"Look, I think when you're talking about the election this November, the thing that people want is that local jurisdictions follow the law passed by the states," Donalds said. "As long as everybody does that, there's not going to be any problem certifying this election this November.
"But what really matters about this election are the issues facing the American people, not the Electoral College Count Act, because what we need is a president who's going to secure our border, actually make our foreign policies be strong again and make sense. That's what matters."
Bash then interjected, insisting that her question was whether he will follow the new law.
Donalds sidestepped the question and instead emphasized his previous answer, saying, "I've been very clear, Dana, as long as states and jurisdictions follow election procedures in their states, there will be no problem for me or anybody on Capitol Hill."
Bash told Donalds he was leaving a "giant loophole," because there is evidence that the states did follow proper procedures in the 2020 election.
The Florida representative responded, "That's not a loophole. If you look at what happened in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and other jurisdictions in 2020, they did not follow election procedures passed by the state legislature. That's an empirical fact."