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The senses. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Steve Daines (R-MT) and James Lankford (R-OK) are among the Republicans who no longer oppose the presidential election results after a day of violence and destruction by the President Donald Trump supporters on Capitol Hill – but not everyone has changed their minds.
In a vote Wednesday night, six Republican senators and 121 House Republicans consistently backed objections to the certification of Arizona’s election result, a startling result in the wake of violence earlier today.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Kennedy (R-LA), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Roger Marshall (R- KS ), have maintained their objections – even if they are unfounded, will go nowhere, and further amplify the lies about a rigged election. (The objection did not get a majority of votes in either chamber and failed.)
“This is the appropriate place for these concerns to be raised,” Hawley said in a speech on the ground, highlighting questions he still had about Pennsylvania’s election laws.
Their decisions to uphold these objections suggest some are still comfortable undermining the democratic process even after pro-Trump rioters stormed Capitol Hill to challenge the validity of the election results.
It’s an attack the actions of Republican lawmakers have helped fuel, given their willingness to back Trump’s repeated and unproven claims of a fraudulent election.
Some Republicans changed their votes
Originally, about 14 Senate Republicans and about 140 House Republicans planned to vote in favor of the objections, meaning some lawmakers changed their votes after the Capitol attack on Wednesday.
Those who did have said they wanted to underscore the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and repudiate the violence that was perpetrated.
“I cannot now in good conscience oppose the certification of these voters,” Loeffler said in a speech. “Violence, lawlessness and the siege of the halls of Congress are heinous and a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect: the sanctity of the American democratic process.
BREAKING: Senator Kelly Loeffler: “When I arrived in Washington this morning, I had every intention of opposing the certification of electoral votes. However, the events of today forced me to reconsider and I can not now, in good conscience, object. ” pic.twitter.com/IBxqsasylN
– ABC News (@ABC) January 7, 2021
But these changes came late: While they send a message about the election outcome, they don’t obscure the role many of these lawmakers also played in fueling the same doubts that led to the rioters’ assault on Capitol.
For months, Trump – and many of his Republican allies – questioned the election results, and in doing so, they contributed to immense distrust of the outcome of both his main supporters and Republicans in general. (According to a November Vox / Data for Progress poll, 73% of Republicans questioned Biden’s victory.)
Plans by members of Congress to oppose the election results of certain states have only amplified this message. And those who did not want to change that position, in particular, seemed to completely ignore the stakes of their actions.
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