Dayton Daily News

More GOP lawmakers seek to undo Bid en win

- ByLisaMasc­aroand MaryClareJ­alonick

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has revealed a coalition of 11 senators who have signed on to help Donald Trump over turn the election.

WASHINGTON— A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joiningPre­sident Donald Trump’s extraordin­ary efffffffff­fffort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes and certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday announced a coalition of 11 senatorswh­o have been enlisted for Trump’s efffffffff­fffort to subvert the will of American voters.

This follows the declaratio­n fromSen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the fifirst to buck Senate leadership by saying hewould join with House Republican­s in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress.

Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat is tearing the party apart as Republican­s are forced tomake consequent­ial choices that will set the contours of the post-Trump era. Hawley and Cruz are both among potential 2024 presidenti­al contenders.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged his party not to try to over

turn what nonpartisa­n electionof­fifficials have concluded was a free and fair vote.

The 11 senators largely acknowledg­edSaturday­they will not succeed in preventing­Biden frombeingi­naugurated­on Jan. 20 after hewon the Electoral College 302232. Buttheirch­allenges, and those from House Republican­s, represent the most sweeping efffffffff­fffort to undo a presidenti­al election outcome since the Civil War.

“Wedonot take this action lightly,” Cruz and the other senators said in a joint statement.

They vowed to vote against certain state electors on Wednesday unless Congress appoints an elec

toral commission to immediatel­y conduct an audit of the election results. They are zeroing in on the states where Trump has raised unfounded claims of voter fraud. Congress is unlikely to agree to their demand.

The group, which presented no new evidence of election problems, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Sens.elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, RogerMarsh­all of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

 ?? BRYNN ANDERSON / ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, greets a crowd before he speaks at a campaign rally for Sen. Kelly Loeffffler, R- Ga., on Saturday in Cumming, Ga.
BRYNN ANDERSON / ASSOCIATED PRESS Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, greets a crowd before he speaks at a campaign rally for Sen. Kelly Loeffffler, R- Ga., on Saturday in Cumming, Ga.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States