President-elect Joe Biden‘s victory was confirmed by Congress early Thursday morning, following a violent pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol and multiple GOP challenges to block the certification.
After Congress, in a joint session presided over by Vice President Mike Pence, certified the outcome of the Electoral College vote just before 4 a.m., Trump said he would honor the results.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” he said in a statement.
“To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win,” Pence said, breaking from Trump who told the mob to go home but that “we love you.” “Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house.”
The insurrection delayed the certification process, as lawmakers sheltered in place and did not reconvene until the Capitol was secured.
While many Republican legislators had begun to acknowledge Biden’s win in recent weeks, some just recently had made up their minds due to the Wednesday protest.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia), who had openly supported blocking the certification, said on the Senate floor that she had planned to object to Georgia’s results but no longer could “in good conscience.”
“The violence, the lawlessness and siege of the halls of Congress are abhorrent and stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect,” she said.
Loeffler lost re-election to Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock the day prior in a runoff race.
Republican Sens. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Steve Daines (R-Montana) and Mike Braun (R-Indiana) also reversed course and did not block the certification as they had said they would.
However, some GOP legislators still worked to block slates of electors.
Congress first blocked an attempt to overturn the Arizona electoral slate, with the House voting 303-121 and the Senate 93-6.
The two chambers rejected another attempt to overturn the electors in Pennsylvania early Thursday, ending the Republican-led effort to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
The House rejected the Pennsylvania challenge around 3 a.m. by a vote of 282-138, and the Senate similarly blocked the challenge 92-7.
The senators who voted to go against the will of the states’ voters were Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas).
Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) voted to overturn the electors in. Arizona, but sided with the majority for Pennsylvania. In the opposite move, Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) and Rick Scott (R-Florida) voted to overturn Pennsylvania’s results but not Arizona’s.
