More Republicans are vowing to challenge the Electoral College results when Congress convenes next week to count the votes from the 2020 presidential election.
It is the most blatant attempt to overturn a legal election in history.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today added momentum to the long-shot bid to overturn the election when he announced he would object to Congress’s counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, making him the first GOP senator to join an effort launched by House conservatives.
The objection from Hawley, along with at least one House lawmaker, would ensure a debate and vote in the House and Senate despite no hard evidence showing widespread voter fraud.
Dozens of courts have ruled against the Trump effort to overturn the election results.
Hawley — Yale Law School, Supreme Court clerk, Missouri attorney general and, according to the first line of his Twitter bio, “constitutional lawyer” — surely knows better.
His plan to challenge the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory has no basis in the facts or the law.
It is, if anything, anti-constitutional — inconsistent with the Constitution’s vision of the ceremonial role of Congress in ratifying the election results.
It is doomed to fail — except, perhaps, at its scarcely disguised purpose of winning Hawley favor in the eyes of the Trumpian base.
Think of it as the first act of Hawley’s all-but-inevitable 2024 presidential campaign.
Think of it as what it is: an irresponsible stunt.
According to sources familiar with the effort, Hawley’s participation has prompted a number of other GOP lawmakers to lend their support.
Here’s a look at the current and incoming House GOP lawmakers who have publicly voiced their support for the move.
Rep. Brian Babin (Texas)
Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert (Colo.)
Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.)
Rep. Ted Budd (N.C.)
Rep.-elect Jerry Carl (Ala.)
Rep.-elect Madison Cawthorn (N.C.)
Rep.-elect Andrew Clyde (Ga.)
Rep. Jeff Duncan (S.C.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (Texas)
Rep.-elect Bob Good (Va.)
Rep. Lance Gooden (Texas)
Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.)
Rep. Mark Green (Tenn.)
Rep.-elect Yvette Herrell (N.M.)
Rep. Jody Hice (Ga.)
Rep.-elect Ronny Jackson (Texas)
Rep.-elect Barry Moore (Ala.)
Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.)
Rep.-elect Burgess Owens (Utah)
Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.)
Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.)
Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (N.J.)