McClain joins effort to discredit vote
After riot, Bruce Township Congresswoman opposes votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania
Just days after taking the oath of office, Macomb County’s newest congressional representative on Thursday cast a vote against certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election.
Lisa McClain, a Bruce Township Republican who succeeded Paul Mitchell as the 10th Congressional representative, voted against certifying election results from the states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.
McClain was joined by fellow Michigan Republicans Tim Walberg and Jack Bergman in opposing the count. They were among 139 representatives who opposed certification.
In the Senate, eight members, all Republicans, also opposed the certification. Neither of Michigan’s senators, who are both Democrats, were among them.
Her vote came after an historic day that started with deliberation of the Electoral College certification was interrupted by an hourslong violent insurrection that resulted in four deaths and a couple of dozen arrests as supporters of President Donald Trump invaded the Capitol Building, and ended just before 4 a.m. Thursday with the certification of Biden as Commander in Chief and Kamala Harris as Vice President.
A McClain spokesperson reached Thursday said she would not be available to speak to The Macomb Daily until Friday but released a prepared statement at 11:18 p.m. Wednesday, hours after the dust of the insurrection had settled and the certification process had resumed.
“I have heard from thousands of residents of Michigan’s 10th district – the folks who sent me here to represent them and be their voice in Washington,” said McClain. “The concerns voiced by my constituents from across the political spectrum, towards the voting process during the 2020 Presidential election, are clear.”
Without giving specifics, she went on to assert that there were problems with the election — though elected leaders from both
major parties and courts have rejected that view.
“The American people need to have confidence in our democratic elections and the rule of law,” she said in the statement. “If the ECA (Electoral College Act), as followed by myself and my colleagues, conflicts with our Constitution, then that needs to be addressed in the appropriate manner. What we saw is the rule of law and due process at work – just as our Founding Fathers intended. Now, I call on state and local officials to realize the deep flaws that led us here and fix them. This cannot and should not happen again. The future of our Constitutional Republic depends on it.”
Mitchell, on the other hand, has consistently criticized the effort to discredit the election. In December, just weeks before his tenure ended after he announced he would step down from Congress, he left the Republican Party and asked to be listed as an Independent, as a form of protest. In an interview with WJR radio (760 AM) on Wednesday as the halls of Congress were being cleared and lawmakers emerged from lockdown, Mitchell stated he would not rejoin the GOP until changes are made.
Wednesday night after the afternoon of insurrection led to a 6 p.m. public curfew in the nation’s capital, lawmakers were resolved to complete the Electoral College tally in a display to the country, and the world, of the nation’s enduring commitment to uphold the will of the voters and the peaceful transfer of power. They pushed through the night with tensions high and Washington D.C. on alert.
Shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday, lawmakers finished their work, confirming Biden won the election. Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the joint session, announced the tally, 306-232.
Trump, who had repeatedly refused to concede the election, said in a statement immediately after the vote that there will be a smooth transition of power on Inauguration Day.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement posted to Twitter by an aide.
The day after the siege at the Capitol, there were fresh questions and concerns across the government — about the president’s fitness to remain in office for two more weeks, the ability of the police to secure the Capitol complex and the future of the Republican Party in a post-Trump era.
One GOP lawmaker publicly called for invoking the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office before Biden is inaugurated. Others
said there must be a review of the U.S. Capitol Police’s inability to prevent the breach of the complex by the protesters.
Most of the demonstrators were white. And newly elected Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., complained, “Had we as Black people did the same things that happened .... the reaction would have been different, we would have been laid out on the ground, there would have been, there would have been shootings, there would have been people in jail.”
One protester, a white woman, was shot to death by Capitol Police, and there were dozens of arrests.
As proceedings resumed Wednesday night, Vice President Mike Pence reopened the Senate and directly addressed the demonstrators: “You did not win.”