Crazy for Trump
Missouri sen. will uselessly challenge vote
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley vowed Wednesday to challenge the results of the 2020 election when lawmakers convene to count the Electoral College votes next week, becoming the first senator to join a futile last effort to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Hawley, a key ally to President Trump, cited the outgoing commander-in-chief’s false and repeatedly debunked claim that Biden’s win was facilitated by mass voter fraud in announcing that he’ll protest the results during the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress.
The Republican senator didn’t specify which particular states’ results he’ll contest, but pointed fingers at Pennsylvania for supposedly failing to abide by its own election laws, even though federal courts have rejected that argument several times.
“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws,” Hawley said in a statement. “At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections.”
A handful of conservative House Republicans, led by Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, have also pledged to file challenges on Jan. 6 to invalidate results in upward of six battleground states won by Biden, including Pennsylvania.
The challenges are bound to fail, as they cannot succeed without at least some Democratic support, meaning Biden’s 306-to232 vote victory in the Electoral College will stand at the end of the day.
However, Hawley’s announcement is significant because in becoming the first senator to pledge support for a challenge, he ensured that both chambers will have to debate and vote on at least one objection during the session.
A few other GOP senators, including Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, have said they’re considering following Hawley’s lead.
The debates and votes that will take place as a result of Hawley’s announcement will serve as a political litmus test for Trump to gauge which Republicans are going to stay loyal to him as he plots his post-White House future and considers whether to run for president again in 2024.
Moderate congressional Republicans will be in an uncomfortable position where they either have to vote to throw out election results even though there’s no evidence of widespread fraud or risk landing on Trump’s enemies list.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other GOP brass in the upper chamber urged their members earlier this month against joining House Republicans in challenging Biden’s victory because the effort could result in a heavy political price even though it ultimately can’t succeed.
Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, a senior Republican and McConnell ally, was not pleased with Hawley’s shenanigans.
“Although I didn’t like the outcome of the election, I think the election’s over,” Shelby told reporters after being asked what he thought of Hawley’s announcement.
The Jan. 6 count of the Electoral College votes is the final bureaucratic step before Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) didn’t break a sweat over Hawley’s stunt.
“These are facts: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s historic victory will be officially recognized next week by the United States Congress,” Schumer tweeted. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in January 20th as the President and Vice President of the United States.”