House Republicans Urge Senate GOP To Oppose Electoral College Certification In No Less Than Three States
House Republicans are understandably worried that if Republican senators do not raise objections to at least three states during the impending certification of the presidential election results, their attempt to change the election outcome will be worthless. President Donald Trump and his supporters have repeatedly raised questions regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.
Some sources familiar with the matter told Fox News that the House Republicans rely on objections raised by the Republican senators to overturn election results in at least three states. Last month, Senator Josh Hawley announced his plan to object to the election results, becoming the first Republican senator to do so, according to Axios.
Led by Senator Ted Cruz, a group of GOP senators on Saturday said they would oppose the certification unless there was an emergency 10-day audit of the election results by an electoral commission. According to House Republican sources, there is a growing concern that the Republican senators will not raise questions regarding the legitimacy of elections in enough states to make a significant difference in the election results, which showed President-elect Joe Biden won.
Two House Republican officials told the site that over 100 GOP House members are planning to oppose the election results in Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona. A House Republican official pointed out that if the Republican senators do not object to enough states, their effort on Jan. 6 will be useless.
In a joint statement, GOP Representatives Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, Tom McClintock, Mike Gallagher, Kelly Armstrong, Chip Roy, and Ken Buck opposed their colleagues' plan to object. In their statement, they clarified that their job on Jan. 6 is to figure out whether or not these are the electors the state sent them, rather than trying to determine if these are the electors the states should have sent them.
Massie shared the statement in a tweet. The Republican lawmakers raised questions regarding election security and several other allegations pushed by Trump and his supporters. However, the GOP lawmakers pointed out that the Constitution does not allow them to change the election results the way some of their colleagues want to.
The GOP lawmakers said the States select electors, not the Congress, noting that they need to respect the states' authority. They went on to insist that they must count the electoral votes that have been submitted by the states.