GOP senator apologizes to Black community for opposing Electoral College results

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma wrote a letter Thursday apologizing to the Black community for opposing the Electoral College vote certification, saying that refuting the results cast doubt “on the validity of votes coming out of predominantly Black communities.”

In a letter obtained by Tulsa World, Lankford acknowledged his actions “caused a firestorm of suspicion among many of my friends, particularly in Black communities around the state. I was completely blindsided, but I also found a blind spot.”

Lankford was part of the group of Republican senators, spearheaded by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who signed a letter on Jan. 2 stating they planned to object to the Electoral College certification that cemented President-elect Joe Biden’s victory — unless Congress created a commission to audit the election results.

Lankford withdrew his objection after a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol last week, delaying certification process and causing evacuations of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Five people died in the riots, including a U.S. Capitol police officer.

Lankford wrote that when he announced he was planning to object, he didn’t mean to “disenfranchise any voter or state” and wanted to resolve “any outstanding questions” before Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“What I did not realize was all of the national conversation about states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, was seen as casting doubt on the validity of votes coming out of predominantly Black communities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit,” he wrote.

Biden became the first Democrat in 28 years to win Georgia. Trump won the state in 2016 but votes from Atlanta and surrounding suburbs helped push Biden to victory four years later.

Atlanta’s population is 51% Black as of July 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Voters in Philadelphia and Detroit — two cities that voted for Biden by huge margins — also helped the former Vice President win Pennsylvania and Michigan, states that Trump added to his column in 2016.

Philadelphia’s population is 42.1% Black as of July 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Black or African-American people make up 78.3% of Detroit’s population as of July 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau said.

In Michigan, Wayne County Board of Canvassers Chair Monica Palmer initially said that she would be open to certifying the votes from the rest of Wayne County — which is 49.4% white — except for Detroit, which is majority Black.

“I believe we do not have complete and accurate information in those poll books,” Palmer initially said, according to The Washington Post. The board later certified the vote.

Biden has specifically credited Black voters with his victories in the 2020 Democratic primary and subsequent general election.

“And especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest — the African American community stood up again for me,” Biden said during his victory speech in November. “They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.”

Trump has repeatedly made unfounded claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and spoke to his supporters at a “Save America Rally” last week, telling them to march on Capitol Hill and falsely saying the election was stolen. Trump was impeached by the House Wednesday on accusations of inciting an insurrection at the Capitol, the first time a U.S. president has been impeached twice.

Lankford has previously supported an effort to address voter fraud, The Washington Post reported in December.

“We spent millions and millions of dollars investigating [Russian interference], going through, ramping up to engage and protect our next election … just on that one topic,” Lankford said. “Now, amazingly after this election, all kinds of issues have come up and said there are potentials for problems, and everyone seems to be saying move on.”

Lankford told Public Radio Tulsa that he doesn’t believe he shares responsibility for the violence at the Capitol riots.

“[There’s] no way to be able to actually see that if I’d have done one more tweet, if I’d have done one more Facebook post, it would have suddenly drowned out the president and what he was saying. No, I don’t believe that’s true,” Lankford said. “So if that’s your question, is if I’d have done just one more tweet it would have fixed all that — or, as some are trying to say, if only I would have just told Oklahomans that wanted answers to questions, ‘No, I’m not going to help you get answers to questions, you’re just going to have to just deal with it,’ that that would have suddenly quelled a riot in Washington, D.C. — I just don’t believe that’s true.”