Americans should prepare to reckon with another January 6th. January 6th, 2025 is the day the newly elected Congress will convene in joint session to count the Electoral College votes. As the Constitution prescribes, Vice President Kamala Harris will preside in her role as president of the Senate.

My Republican friends who continue to insist that Vice President Pence had the authority in 2021 to reject the Electoral College votes from states that then President Trump lost by very small margins have apparently forgotten that the vice president will not always be a conservative Republican.

A quick review of recent presidential elections shows that in the 21st century the Republican nominee for president has carried the popular vote exactly once. That would be President George W. Bush seeking re-election in 2004. In 2024 the possibility of President Biden carrying the popular vote while losing the Electoral College is very real. The weeping and gnashing of teeth on the Left over this phenomenon deserves no sympathy as it is merely a facade for turning over control of the presidency to those who live in large urban areas, many of whom are the highly educated elites. Sanctuary city taxpayer paid benefits for illegal immigrants, violent crime rates and budget deficits will not have Americans living in rural areas or the exurbs saying “Yes, give us more.”

The demand to sync the presidential winner to the popular vote, however, will provide fodder for Democratic talking heads and leftist congressional members to argue that the popular vote trumps (pun intended) the Electoral College vote, the Constitution be damned.

These liberals will point to Hillary Clinton in 2016 losing the Electoral College vote while winning the popular vote by 2.9 million votes or 2.1%.

They will argue that in 2020 Biden carried the popular vote by more than 7 million votes or 4.4% yet he only carried the Electoral College by 43,000 votes spread across three states.

All of this pressure will fall upon Vice President Harris just as it did on Vice President Pence in 2021. Fortunately, Congress has passed legislation that clarifies the purpose of the joint session of Congress, raises the bar on the process by which members of the House and Senate may challenge the electoral votes from any state and, importantly, places limitations on the role of the vice president.

However, if 2024 gives us a Biden popular vote victory coupled with a Trump Electoral College advantage Americans could face a replay of the 2020 election aftermath with the political parties in reverse roles.

In January 2021 Vice President Pence saved America from a constitutional crisis. In January 2025 we may find out if Vice President Harris is Mike Pence in heels.

Americans better hope she is.

Kevin Igoe, a resident of Bonita Springs, was chief of staff of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management from 2015 to 2023. A long-time political consultant, he is a former deputy chief of staff of the Republican National Committee, former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, and was a member of the Bush-Cheney 2000 Florida Recount Team and a Reagan White House appointee. He served on the Washington staff of then Representative Connie Mack III.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Get ready for another January 6th