Latest News
Senior Republicans accept Joe Biden as president-elect
(Last Updated On: December 15, 2020)
Several senior Republican senators on Monday acknowledged Democrat Joe Biden as the United States’ president-elect after the Electoral College affirmed his victory, and rejected the idea of overturning the 2020 presidential election in Congress.
Reuters reported that a few of President Donald Trump’s most loyal backers contemplated a last-ditch effort to reverse his November 3 election defeat, but a growing number of Republicans appeared ready to defy Trump and recognize Biden as the winner.
Senator John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said lawmakers had the right to challenge electoral votes. But he also said it was “time to move on” and that as soon as Biden “crosses the 270-vote threshold” in the Electoral College, he would be president-elect.
A candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes to win the White House. Biden passed that threshold on Monday afternoon when California delivered its 55 electoral votes to the Democrat. He will take office on January 20.
Other Republican senators who publicly recognized Biden as president-elect on Monday included Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist from South Carolina; Ohio’s Rob Portman; Missouri’s Roy Blunt, the Senate’s No. 4 Republican; and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
Thune added that any effort to try to overturn the result when Congress counts the Electoral College votes on January 6 would get little support. “It’s not going anywhere,” he told reporters.
Senator John Cornyn, another veteran Republican, said he thought any such effort “would be a bad mistake” that would be soundly defeated in the 100-member chamber, currently controlled by his party, Reuters reported.
“There comes a time when you have to realize that, despite your best efforts, you’ve been unsuccessful, that’s sort of the nature of these elections. You’ve got to have a winner. You’ve got to have a loser,” Cornyn told reporters.
He said he expected there would be a peaceful transition of power from Trump, who has so far refused to concede the election and launched dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits seeking to overturn his loss to Biden, Reuters reported.