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As Congress prepares to certify the results of the Electoral College on Wednesday, a group of Republican senators have declared their intention to object to accepting President-elect Joe Biden as the winner.
Their objection, while unlikely to prevent Congress from accepting Biden as the victor and the next president of the United States, will trigger hours of debate in Congress about the merits of allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election and will culminate in a vote that will divide the Republican Conference.
So far, 38 of 51 Republican senators who will have a vote on Wednesday have gone on the record about where they stand. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) will not participate in the Electoral College certification Wednesday because his term ended Sunday. If he wins re-election, the results of his election will not be certified before Congress votes. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, (R-Ga.) on the other hand is running in a special election to complete the term of retired Sen. Jonny Isakson (R-Ga.), so she will have a vote even though her election is on the same day as Perdue’s.
Those in favor of objecting
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was the first to declare his intention to object to the Electoral College vote, calling out the state of Pennsylvania for, in his words, failing to “follow their own state election laws” and accusing “mega corporations” including Facebook and Twitter of interfering in the election.
Later, a group of 11 Republican senators led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced they would object as well. They issued a joint statement on Saturday citing widespread allegations of voter fraud as reason to appoint an Electoral Commission to investigate the 2020 election and conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the returns.
“A fair and credible audit-conducted expeditiously and completed well before January 20-would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next President. We owe that to the People,” the senators said.
“These are matters worthy of the Congress, and entrusted to us to defend. We do not take this action lightly. We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it. And every one of us should act together to ensure that the election was lawfully conducted under the Constitution and to do everything we can to restore faith in our Democracy.”
The senators who joined this statement include Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
Also, Loeffler, who is running for re-election in a run-off against Democratic candidate, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, that will be decided Tuesday, released a statement Monday lending her support to the objection effort.
“The American people deserve a platform in Congress, permitted under the Constitution, to have election issues presented so that they can be addressed,” Loeffler said. “That’s why, on January 6th, I will vote to give President Trump and the American people the fair hearing they deserve and support the objection to the Electoral College certification process.”
That makes 13 Republican senators so far who will object to the Electoral College results from battleground states disputed by President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Those opposed to objecting
They are met with opposition from at least 25 of their colleagues, several of which have raised constitutional concerns about whether lawmakers have the ability to disregard election results certified by the states at all.
Four Republican senators including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) joined Democrats in a statement calling for Congress to certify Biden as the winner of the election.
“The voters have spoken, and Congress must now fulfill its responsibility to certify the election results,” the senators said collectively.
Romney issued an additional statement on Jan. 3 condemning Cruz and the co-signers of his statement for their “egregious ploy to reject electors,” accusing them of dangerously threatening the republic.
“President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed. The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence,” Romney said.
My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense. This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life. Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.
Were Congress to actually reject state electors, partisans would inevitably demand the same any time their candidate had lost. Congress, not voters in the respective states, would choose our presidents.
Adding to this ill-conceived endeavor by some in Congress is the President’s call for his supporters to come to the Capitol on the day when this matter is to be debated and decided. This has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.
I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?
The following are statements from other GOP senators who will oppose the effort to object to the Electoral College vote, as collected by the Washington Post:
