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Republican Senator to Contest Biden's Electoral College Victory

Ken Bredemeier

   Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said Wednesday that he
   would contest next week's certification of the Electoral College vote
   in a last-ditch but almost certainly futile effort to upend Democratic
   President-elect Joe Biden's victory in last month's election over
   President Donald Trump.

   Hawley's challenge, coupled with a Republican protest in the House of
   Representatives led by Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, ensures
   that the two chambers in Congress on January 6 will debate the
   legitimacy of Biden's 306-232 victory in the Electoral College that
   would make him the country's 46th president at his inauguration on
   January 20.

   Biden's incoming White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, told reporters
   Wednesday that despite any "antics," Biden would be sworn in as
   scheduled next month.

   In the U.S.'s indirect form of democracy, the outcome of the Electoral
   College vote determines who wins the presidency, not the national
   popular vote, although Biden won that as well by 7 million votes.

   Debate in both chambers

   The Hawley and Brooks protests are likely to force both the House and
   Senate to debate for up to two hours on whether to overturn the already
   state-certified outcomes of the popular votes in several states Biden
   won narrowly and to reject his winner-take-all collection of electoral
   votes in each of those states. Both congressional chambers would have
   to vote to overturn the vote in any individual state for the overall
   electoral vote count to be changed.

   But Democrats will narrowly maintain control of the House after new
   lawmakers are sworn in Sunday and are certain to decide any disputes in
   Biden's favor.

   Political control of the Senate remains unsettled pending two runoff
   elections in Georgia set for next Tuesday. But several Republicans have
   acknowledged Biden won the election and could also join Democrats in
   the Senate to vote against Trump.

   Trump has refused to concede his defeat in the November 3 election,
   tweeting daily unfounded claims that he was defrauded out of election
   to a second four-year term.

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