The list of Republican U.S. Senators and Congressmen planning to object to the certification of Joe Biden’s Presidential victory on January 6th is growing by the day.
The effort to back President Donald Trump’s call for an election investigation namely in a handful of states began with Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama and was largely dismissed. But last week Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas enlisted nearly a dozen of their colleagues to offer objections while the tally in the U.S. House is rumored to be near a hundred or so at this time.
In a statement provided to WLOX on Sunday, Mississippi Congressman Steven Palazzo (MS-04) said he cannot vote to certify the Presidential election results.
“I cannot vote to certify the results of an election in certain states that millions of Americans and I do not wholeheartedly trust,” said Congressman Steven Palazzo in a statement to WLOX News. “States cannot bypass their legislature to alter election processes, nor can they violate the laws already in place to safeguard the election. It’s unacceptable to have ballots accepted after statute allows, those ballots should be deemed fraudulent or void.
“I stand with millions of Americans who do not approve or accept the submission made by the electoral college until a complete and thorough investigation of all evidence has been conducted.
“I cannot idly stand by and watch Mississippi be disenfranchised while other states knowingly violated their Constitution and side-stepped their legislatures in the 2020 election. I am committed to ensuring that all Americans are confident and trust the outcome of our election, it’s the bedrock of our democracy.”
Congressman Bennie Thompson (MS-02) took to Twitter to share the question many of his Democratic colleagues are asking: “How can any Member of Congress challenge the legitimacy of Trump’s defeat when they were elected from the SAME ballot?”
How can any Member of Congress challenge the legitimacy of Trump’s defeat when they were elected from the SAME ballot?
— Bennie G. Thompson (@BennieGThompson) January 3, 2021
Mississippi senior U.S. Senator Roger Wicker is not supporting certification challenges and will not be among the Republicans in the upper chamber to object. In a Politico article on the Missouri Senator’s objection, Wicker said he will vote to certify the Presidential election.
“I’m going to vote to certify the election,” said Sen. Wicker (R-Miss.) said of Hawley’s effort to object in the Senate. “I don’t think it’s a good idea and I don’t understand his reasoning.”
At the time of this publication, Congressmen Trent Kelly and Michael Guest as well as Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, all Republicans, have not commented on whether or not they will object to the certification of the Presidential election come Wednesday.
Texas Senator Cruz joined FoxNews on Sunday to outline Republican efforts to establish a commission to audit the election results in 10 days, similar to that which was done in the 1876 election. You can watch that interview below.
Frank Corder
