WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell believes it is dangerous for his party to challenge the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden. But some Republicans are charging ahead anyway, and this time McConnell faces dynamics he can’t control at all.
Despite opposition from the Kentucky Republican, 13 Republican Party senators have said they will join their House colleagues on Wednesday and oppose when Congress formally affirms the Biden Electoral College victory. The effort, sure to fail, has been spurred on by the solidly defeated President Donald Trump as an unjustified and sudden effort to nullify the election results, which the 50 states have already certified.
McConnell has warned his colleagues that the confrontation is risky because it will force GOP senators, including those in potentially tough 2022 re-elections, to decide whether to support or oppose the happy Trump in a fight they are sure to lose. In mid-December, McConnell warned them in private that pressuring the issue would force a “terrible vote.” despite publicly congratulating Democrat Biden on his victory, ignoring Trump’s refusal to concede.
To reiterate their views, GOP aides say McConnell plans to be the first speaker when the initial objection is raised during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress and senators return to his chamber for a debate and a two-vote hours. McConnell has also made it clear that the Senate will meet all night if necessary to address all objections, aides said.
McConnell has actively avoided confrontation with Trump whenever possible, but is clearly fed up with Trump’s chaos. His statements on Wednesday will leave no doubt about the seriousness of the vote, which goes to the heart of the orderly transfer of power to American democracy.
But McConnell cannot avoid objections, which are allowed by the Constitution and federal law if a representative and a senator challenge the electoral votes of a state. It also faces powerful political dynamics, including the presidential ambitions planned for some senators for 2024, the desire of others to protect themselves from the 2022 primaries sparked by an offended Trump, and the temptation to use the fight for raise money and bolster the support of ardent Trump supporters.
“You have people who would like to be presidential candidates and act in the best interest of being candidates,” said David Winston, a political adviser to Republican congressional leaders.
Trump’s allegations of election fraud, which he began filing months before election day, have been rejected by Republican and Democratic officials in state after state and numerous judges, including the Conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Former Trump Attorney General William Barr has said there is no evidence of fraud that could change the election result.
First-year Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, has said he will challenge Pennsylvania’s election votes. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is expected to lead a group of 11 senators who want to create a commission to examine unfounded allegations of election fraud, challenging Arizona’s votes. Both men are expected to run for president in 2024.
Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Can also challenge the results in her state. Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia were all the key states that Biden won on his way to victory for 306-232 Electoral College.
Spokesman David Popp said McConnell is not pressuring colleagues to vote with him. But he has made his views clear, last week he told GOP senators that he believes voting is the most important thing in his career and that he shares his views with numerous colleagues who have sought him out.
His most powerful allies are with him, with Republican Party whip John Thune of South Dakota, who won a threat on Twitter from Trump after predicting that the Senate effort “would fall like a stray dog.”
McConnell is trying to steer his colleagues toward a conservative argument that Congress should not overturn state election decisions. He has gained strength in recent days, gaining the support of influential members, including moderate Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Conservative Conservative Tom Cotton, R-Ark., And Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
Supporters expect a majority of Republican senators to join McConnell and all Democrats to overthrow the challenges of the election vote. Cotton is considered another presidential candidate.
McConnell, 78, has been a Republican leader since 2007 and is the longest-serving leader of the Senate Republican Party. But his status as a majority leader is in jeopardy for reasons beyond the scope of the intraparty Electoral College. The Republican majority in the Senate faltered early Wednesday when Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of two qualifiers in the Georgia Senate; a margin of shaving separated the Republican and Democratic candidates in the second contest. Losing both would cost McConnell his majority.
McConnell has not shied away from past battles with the party’s conservative base. He has won more than not lately, but in 2010 and 2012 the GOP’s marginal candidates in Nevada, Colorado and Indiana seemed to cost the party seats. But it changed the tide in 2014, overcoming a challenge of its own and bringing the Republican Party to control of the Senate after eight years in the minority.
Cruz’s group includes the four first-year Senate Republicans, a worrying sign for McConnell, as strong allies such as Lamar Alexander, R-Ten., And Pat Roberts, R-Kan, have withdrawn. All freshmen pledged allegiance to Trump in their campaigns and cast the first vote of their careers in the Senate in line with Trump’s wishes.
A day earlier, freshmen might have been more inclined to side with the establishment’s leadership figures who would probably be more important than an outgoing president.