Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory after the Electoral College affirmed the result that was evident for the last six weeks on Monday, The Associated Press reports.
“I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result. But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”
McConnell said Biden “has devoted himself to public service for many years” and congratulated Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, saying that “all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.”
Some Republican leaders finally come around:
Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, also acknowledged Biden’s win.
“At some point you have to face the music,” he said. “Once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it’s time for everybody to move on.”
Sen. Roy Blunt, another member of the GOP leadership, said that his inaugural committee will now “deal with Vice President Biden as the president-elect.”
The Electoral College affirmed Biden’s victory on Monday without any objections in states where Trump filed legal challenges after his campaign failed to show any evidence of fraud he has repeatedly claimed.
Some GOPers still keep hope alive:
“It’s a very, very narrow path for the president,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday. “But having said that, I think we’ll let those legal challenges play out.”
Rep. Mo Brooks has vowed to challenge the election results in some states, in an effort that has no chance of succeeding, and Rep. Alex Mooney has introduced a dubious resolution for no one to be declared president-elect until all investigations have completed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer said that it’s as if Biden has to win “again and again and again” before Republicans will accept it.
“The campaign to overturn the outcome is a dangerous thing,” Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public policy at Princeton, told the AP. “This is a Republican operation, not a presidential operation. Without their silence, he couldn’t do what he is doing.”
