A growing number of Republican senators – led by Ted Cruz – will announce today that they will object to the declaration of state election votes on Wednesday, Axios told congressional sources familiar with their talks.
Why it matters: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped to avoid the spectacle that his party would make one last attempt to prevent Joe Biden from being declared the 2020 election winner, but Missouri’s Josh Hawley said make a general objection and now other Republican senators are planning to air more specific grievances.
Send the news: Cruz, who, like Hawley, is expected to consider a presidential bid in 2024, plans to release a statement this afternoon announcing his plans. Once the Republican in Texas does so, several other senators from his party are expected to pursue a coordinated effort that they see as Hawley’s different.
- Republicans involved in these talks include Sens Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-La.) R-Tenn.), And Mike Braun (R-Ind.), As well as Sens-chosen Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) And Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
The back story: Some Democrats have occasionally voiced individual objections to the outcome of the election college, but a large-scale, biased objection would turn a procedure that is usually in the process into a challenge to American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.
- The House and Senate will meet Wednesday for a joint sitting announcing the individual electoral college of each state.
- Any member can object. When a representative and a senator object to the outcome of an individual state, members of the House and Senate go to their separate chambers to debate and vote on whether they want to uphold the challenge. Each vote can take up to two hours.
- McConnell described every vote Wednesday as the “most consequential” of his political career, and other Republican senators are anxious to have to choose publicly between upholding the results and reinforcing President Trump’s allegations of election fraud.
- Although numerous courts to the Supreme Court have dismissed election challenges voiced by the Trump campaign and other supporters, these senators are concerned that the vote against the president’s wishes will prompt him to support an opponent against them in 2022 and beyond.
Timing: The Senate certification vote will take place just one day after two by-elections in Georgia. If the Democrats won both races, it would result in a split 50-50 chamber, with elected Vice President Kamala Harris exercising the power of the Democrats.
- Regardless of the results, the term of Senator David Perdue will officially expire at the end of the current Congress, which takes place on Sunday.
- The Republican Georgia seat will remain vacant until the results are certified, leaving only 99 senators left. The certification can take up to two weeks.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional names of the senator.