Carlos Gimenez cancels TV interview to discuss electoral votes due to kidney stones

Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez was hospitalized with back pain and symptoms of kidney stones, his office said Sunday.

Gimenez, who is now home and recovering, canceled a scheduled interview on WPLG’s This Week in South Florida to discuss his vote to overturn electoral college results in Arizona and Pennsylvania, with TV co-host Glenna Milberg saying the congressman was dealing with a medical emergency.

“Last night after experiencing back pain and symptoms of kidney stones, I went to the emergency room in consultation with my primary physician,” Gimenez tweeted Sunday afternoon. “I am now home recovering. Lourdes and I are grateful for all who reached out.”

He was invited on to This Week in South Florida to answer questions about his votes on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, which were held in the wake of the riot and attack on the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters, an hours-long assault that left five dead. The television news program invited all the South Florida GOP House members, according to a tweet by co-host Milberg. He was the only one who accepted.

An hour before his scheduled appearance, Milberg said the congressman canceled due to a medical emergency.

By casting his votes to overturn the results in two battleground states, Gimenez joined the majority of House Republicans to question the results of the 2020 election — taking a position that even some members of his own party have cast as an overtly partisan attack on democracy.

Trump endorsed Gimenez in the race for Congressional District 26 against incumbent Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

After the vote, the new congressman would not answer questions from the Miami Herald about it, issuing a statement Thursday afternoon saying he voted to sustain objections in the Pennsylvania and Arizona election results due to changes in election procedures made by those states’ administrations without the approval of their legislatures.

“Though I acknowledge my objections to these particular slates of electors would never have changed the outcome of the election,” Gimenez said, “it is my duty as a member of Congress to exercise congressional oversight powers in order to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Prior to the vote, he had said “there’s a very high bar to overturn that election.”

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio voted against invalidating Arizona and Pennsylvania’s electors. Sen. Rick Scott voted in favor of invalidating Pennsylvania’s electors but not Arizona’s. Miami Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart joined Gimenez in objecting to both sets of electors, along with 13 of Florida’s 15 House Republicans who voted.

Miami Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar wasn’t in Washington for the vote as she recovers from COVID. Salazar hasn’t explained how she would have voted. She has not been sworn in, and has not said when that will happen.

Vice President Mike Pence, a majority of Senate Republicans and all Democrats in Congress ultimately rejected the challenge and certified the election.

Gimenez and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 in November, though the congressman said he never experienced any symptoms.