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McConnell also expressed concern that the vote could hurt GOP senators facing tough election battles by alienating moderate voters. Opposing the GOP-led objection, meanwhile, could jeopardize the Republicans’ main prospects by shutting down voters who believe the election was stolen from Trump.
The clash illustrates the emerging tensions between Hawley and the Republican leadership. As the Missouri senator tries to harden his anti-establishment credentials and fill his fundraising coffers ahead of a potential 2024 presidential bid, the GOP hierarchy seeks to protect incumbent senators. Regardless of the outcome of Georgia’s run-off election next week, neither party will have firm control over the Senate before the 2022 midterm elections.
A spokesperson for Hawley did not respond to a request for comment.
During the call, McConnell described Wednesday’s vote as one of the most monumental votes senators have ever cast. According to several people familiar with the discussion, the GOP Senate leader also asked Hawley on several occasions to describe how his objection would play out.
As they awaited a response from the absent Hawley, Republican National Senate Committee Chairman Todd Young (Ind.) Remarked, “Josh Hawley surely has technological problems because he would like to talk about such an important issue.
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey pushed Hawley away during the conversation, delivering what one person informed of the remarks described as forceful denunciation. The Missouri senator focused his objections on Pennsylvania, saying it and other states did not follow their own election laws.
A spokesperson for Toomey confirmed the account, saying, “Sen. Toomey has made his views clear on Senator Hawley’s intended objection. He doesn’t agree at all.
Some Republicans have expressed annoyance that Hawley missed the call, noting that the senator had announced his plans a day earlier and should have anticipated questions about it. Some say they have struggled in the past few days to understand Hawley’s thinking.
Hawley instead emailed Republicans in the Senate after the call ended.
“If you’ve spoken to people at home, I’m sure you know how angry and disillusioned a lot of people are – and how Congress hasn’t taken action,” Hawley wrote in email, which was first reported by Axios.
“I firmly believe there should be a full-fledged congressional inquiry and also a list of electoral integrity laws,” Hawley added. “I intend to oppose during the certification process on January 6 in order to bring these issues to the fore and to highlight the unprecedented failure of states like Pennsylvania to follow their own electoral laws and efforts. unprecedented big tech companies to interfere with the election. “
Hawley began to use his high level maneuver to fill his fundraising account. Thursday afternoon, he appealed to donors to ask for their support.
“As you can imagine, I am under pressure from the Washington establishment and Wall Street to ignore the will of the people and avoid raising this issue. But I don’t respond to any establishment, I respond to American workers, ”Hawley wrote in the email.
The 41-year-old has been causing a sensation since entering the Senate two years ago, posing as an outsider determined to take on tech companies. He’s also closely aligned with Trump, whose support helped catapult Hawley to victory in 2018.
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