Staying with Trump
Congresswoman to object to certification of 2020 election results
Stefanik to join growing list of Republicans in objecting to election certification.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rschuylerville, will object to the certification of the 2020 election results, joining a growing list of Republican members of Congress who will mark their protest of various election procedures and demonstrate continuing loyalty to President Donald J. Trump.
The effort, which is not expected to alter Trump’s impending exit from the White House this month, will play out during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress to count the Electoral
College votes certified by each state. Individual lawmakers can object to Congress’ approval of the vote, and the decision by some GOP members to do so has divided the Republican party on the eve of two Georgia runoff elections Tuesday that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. Stefanik, who became one of Trump’s most vocal allies in the last year of his presidency, said Monday she would object to the election results “to protect our democratic process.”
“Tens of millions of Americans are rightly concerned that the 2020 election featured unprecedented voting irregularities, unconstitutional overreach by unelected state officials and judges ignoring state election laws, and a fundamental lack of ballot integrity and security,” Stefanik said. “The most precious foundation and covenant of our Republic is the right to vote, and consequently, the faith in the sanctity of our nation’s free and fair elections.”
Stefanik’s decision to object prompted New York Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs to call for her resignation.
“Through her statement today indicating her intention to support the effort to contest the legitimately certified electors in the 2020 Presidential race, Congresswoman Stefanik has thrown in her lot with those colleagues who seek to violate their Constitutional oath to ‘protect and defend’ the Constitution by seeking to overthrow the legitimately elected incoming President of the United States,” Jacobs said in a statement.
Over 140 House Republicans and 13 GOP senators have said they will raise objections Wednesday. In a joint statement, the senators asked that Congress appoint a special commission to conduct an “emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states” in order to restore faith in American elections amid allegations of fraud. Vice President Mike Pence, who will preside over the joint session Wednesday, said Saturday he supports the
objecting members.
But other Republicans have rebuked their colleagues’ efforts as anti-democratic and nakedly partisan. U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-neb., called it “bad for the country and bad for the party.”
Rep. John Katko, R-syracuse, said Congress should not “usurp the will of the people and the Electoral College” by voting against certifying the election results. “After every ballot was counted and arguments were presented to our nation’s courts, there has been no demonstration of widespread fraud that would warrant overturning the election results,” he said.
Rep. Tom Reed, R-corning, was the first to acknowledge Biden as presidentelect and is also expected to oppose the GOP challenges to certification.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-staten Island, declined to comment on Monday. Republican Reps. Lee Zeldin of Shirley, Andrew Garbarino of Sayville and Chris Jacobs of Orchard Park did not respond to requests for comment.
Objections from Republican members of Congress will receive a vote in both chambers Wednesday and will not pass the majority Democratic House.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D -N.Y., said Sunday “On January the 20th, Joe Biden will be president and Kamala Harris will be vice president,
no matter what they try to do. I think they’re hurting themselves and hurting the democracy, all for a — to try to please somebody who has no fidelity to elections or even the truth.”
On Sunday, as a new Congress was sworn in, a recording of Trump asking Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” — one more than Biden’s margin in the state — emerged. On the call Saturday, Trump continued to allege widespread voter fraud in Georgia and other states, allegations which his campaign has failed to substantiate and which the courts and election officials of both parties have dismissed as untrue.
Some House Democrats are supporting a resolution to censure Trump for the phone call; a censure is Congress’s highest rebuke after articles of impeachment.
Stefanik and Zeldin previously joined over 100 GOP lawmakers backing a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the election results in multiple swing states. That lawsuit was dismissed as meritless by a judge.
The congresswoman and her staff have not responded to inquiries regarding the election and other topics from this Times Union reporter since Nov. 3.
Stefanik trounced her Democratic challenger Tedra Cobb in the 2020 election in a district that is now majority Republican. She sent a fundraising email to supporters Monday announcing her decision to challenge the election certification.