More GOP Lawmakers Are Backing The Electoral College Challenge

Republican elected Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said many Republican senators are planning on joining the effort to challenge the Electoral College's votes when the joint session of Congress convenes on January 6.

The process must be initiated by a senator and a member of the House of Representatives. In addition to Taylor Greene, Republican Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and a number of House Republican lawmakers have pledged to challenge the votes, along with several Senators.

“We have a very strong case, and our numbers are growing strong,” Taylor Greene said while having a conversion with Newsmax. “We talked to senators and we’re good to go for this objection.”

Taylor Greene didn’t include which senators would join the challenge. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) have both indicated they might commit to it, but there’s been no public confirmation from them.

If the joint session of Congress files an objection, chambers must vote for key states that voted for Joe Biden, and each chamber would have to debate for two hours whether to disqualify a state's votes. After that, there would have to be a vote in each chamber on whether to throw out the votes or not.

Taylor Greene said she had spoken to President Donald Trump about a possible challenge to the vote, saying, "I didn't run for Congress to sit by and be quiet, so I called the president. I support him, I voted for him, just like everyone else, and I’m happy to support him in this trying time.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has apparently been telling GOP senators not to participate in the challenge, while the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), has spoken to reporters saying that it’s likely to fail.

Thune said he’s heard of no Republicans willing to join the Rep. Brooks-led effort. “In the Senate, it would go down like a shot dog. And I just don’t think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.”

Along with Brooks and Taylor Greene, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas), Rep.-elect Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and many others said they planned on joining the effort.

“We must stand up for the tens of millions of Americans who want answers to the irregularities surrounding this election,” Lance Gooden wrote in a letter to Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas). “It is our duty to ensure the integrity of our election is unwavering, and the American people deserve to feel confident their vote matters.”

Babin also corresponded saying that if Congress doesn’t investigate the alleged voter fraud, he would object to the results. About two-dozen Republicans in the House signed his letter.

One of the most important aspects of the affair will be how Vice President Mike Pence will handle the situation, with the Vice President presiding over the session and announcing the winner. Pence has apparently already met with House members who want to challenge the results, and the Vice President could decide to simply bypass the issue by skipping the vote altogether. This would leave Pence’s duties up to Senate president pro tempore Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has previously acknowledged Biden as the winner of the election.

The only other time in recent history that a state's congressional election results were up for a vote was in 2005, when several Democrats challenged President George W. Bush's victory in Ohio, a vote that failed overwhelmingly in both chambers, with Republicans denigrating the effort at the time as a travesty and a crying wolf.