Republican Sen. Josh Hawley to Challenge Electoral College Count

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., says he will oppose certification of the presidential election on Jan. 6. During its first session of 2021, Congress is expected to vote on whether to certify the results—a date set long before election results were questioned and President Donald J. Trump refused to concede.

The vote of the Electoral College was recorded as 306 votes for Joe Biden and 232 for Trump. It takes 260 votes to win.

While a number of House members have announced their intentions to challenge, Hawley is the first senator to go on record with the intent.

He tweeted:

Millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard. I will object on January 6 on their behalf pic.twitter.com/kTaaPPJGHE

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) December 30, 2020

In summary, his formal statement says:

Following both the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in Congress objected during the certification of electoral votes in order to raise concerns about election integrity. They were praised by Democratic leadership and the media when they did. And they were entitled to do so. But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this election are entitled to do the same.

Hawley goes on to say that he cannot vote to certify the Electoral College results without raising the integrity of this election, specifically pointing out what happened in Pennsylvania, a state which failed to follow its own election laws. He also objects to efforts of megacorporations, including Facebook and Twitter, for interfering in the election—showing bias to Democrat Joe Biden.

“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections,” Hawley says in his statement. “But Congress has so far failed to act.

Procedurally, the planned objections will require each member of Congress, and now each senator, to go on the record about whether they support the investigations and claims of voter fraud by the president and his campaign team.

According to Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to the president, there is a mass effort happening to educate and provide investigation results on election fraud to the nation’s representatives and senators. That effort is hoped to create more reactions like Hawley’s—and refusal to accept the tainted election.

“This fight is far from over,” he says.

With the clock ticking and Congress scheduled to meet Jan. 6 to finalize the electoral vote, Bannon says the time is now.

“He [Trump] understands the country is at stake; he understands this republic’s at stake,” Bannon says. “He is not going to back down; he will never concede.”

People all over the world, and many of whom will be gathering in Georgia Saturday, Jan. 4, for a rally with President Trump and senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, are calling on God to expose injustice while also speaking out for elected officials to fight for the democratic process and constitutionality that put them in their positions. {eoa}