11 GOP Senators Plan To Object To Certification Of Election Results, Pence Welcomes Their Move

Vice President Mike Pence saluted 11 U.S. senators and senator-elects on Saturday who are planning on objecting to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden‘s win during the joint 117th congressional session on January 6.

Following the November 3 general election, every state has certified their results. Nearly 60 lawsuits by President Donald Trump and his allies have been made to challenge the results. All have failed so far.

Pence and Trump’s allies have made unfounded claims of wrongdoing, offering vague suggestions of what might have occurred.

The 11 senators’ opposition to officially certifying each state’s results would only stall Congress by a matter of hours in finalizing the results.

The protest poses a problem for Pence, who simultaneously presides as president of the senate, and thus is in charge of administering the procedures and announcing the final decision on Wednesday.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Friday that House Republicans filed, which had pressured Pence to overturn election results unilaterally.

Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, issued a statement on Saturday night claiming that Pence “shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election.”

Pence, the statement continued, “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on Jan. 6th.”

Also, on Saturday, in a joint statement, 11 Senate Republicans called for a 10-day audit of election returns in “disputed states.” They said that they would vote to block the electors from certain states.

The group includes Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Steve Daines (R-Montana), John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Mike Braun (R-Indiana) and Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama).

In addition to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), who announced this week that he would be objecting to Congress’ certification of the election results, the group consists of nearly one-quarter of the Senate Republicans who have broken with GOP leaders to join the effort to invalidate Biden’s win.

Meanwhile, in the House, over half of the Republican members have said that they will vote to block certification of the election results on Jan. 6.

Article by Emily Bevacqua