Incoming GOP Senator Roger Marshall undecided about blocking Biden’s electoral votes
A day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, the new Republican senator from Kansas said the election remains undecided.
Senator-elect Roger Marshall, who will be sworn in on January 3, said Wednesday that Biden’s 306-vote Electoral College victory on Monday—above the threshold of 270 required to win the White House—is just another incremental step in the transition of power.
“I feel like we’re in the middle of a process that’s going to take us to inauguration day on January 20 and whoever is sworn in on January 20 I’m going to call Mr. President with great respect,” Marshall said in an interview Wednesday.
Marshall, who will succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Roberts, currently represents western Kansas in the U.S. House. He was one of 126 Republican House members to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas’ lawsuit seeking to overturn the election in four swing states that went for Biden.
The Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit Friday and the Electoral College affirmed Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump on Monday. Congress will meet on January 6 to formally accept the results.
If at least one member of both the House and the Senate object, it will set off a procedural battle and require votes by each chamber.
Such a strategy, though dramatic, would be unlikely to change the election’s outcome. Democrats control the U.S. House and several Senate Republicans have signaled that they would not support an effort to overturn the results.
McConnell and other GOP leaders warned the caucus against the maneuver in a Tuesday phone call, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
Marshall, who will be a member of the U.S. Senate when the January 6 session takes place, said he was undecided about whether he will support an effort to block Biden’s electoral votes.
“January 6 is the next big step of this process. I’m going to keep weighing the evidence between now and then and make a decision on January 5,” Marshall said.
Marshall did not offer specific evidence of voter fraud, but asserted that supporters of Trump believe the election was unfair. The president’s refusal to concede the election results could transform the January 6 vote into a litmus test for conservatives seeking to stay in good standing with Trump’s base.
Marshall noted that it was not unprecedented for lawmakers to object to the results. A handful of Democratic House members did in 2017 when Congress met to accept Trump’s 2016 victory.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who was on the call with McConnell, said Wednesday he was still studying the issue.
“Democrats use the opportunity to raise concerns about the process. It’s really the only forum that that senators and members of Congress have in order to do that. So, I’m going to do my due diligence and we’ll see,” said Hawley, a potential contender for the presidency in 2024.
Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, the No. 4 Republican in the Senate, acknowledged Biden’s win Monday and was among the leaders reportedly urging against theatrics on January 6.
Roberts said he considers Biden to be president-elect following the Electoral College vote, his office confirmed Tuesday. He had been quiet on the matter for weeks after the election, despite serving alongside Biden in the Senate for 12 years.
His silence prompted a public rebuke from former chief-of-staff Leroy Towns, who said he was saddened by Roberts’ “failure to speak” out against “Trump’s lies and his intentional and cynical effort to undermine support for our democracy.”
The retiring senator told The Star last week that he was waiting for the December 14 Electoral College vote because of several pieces of legislation he is trying to pass before the end of his term. They will require Trump’s signature.
“I’ve got still three things I want to get done and all three (are) going to have to have presidential approval. Why should I go out of my way—either way— to say anything about this?” Roberts said. “I know there are people who have very strong feelings, oh, you should do this. I’m just going to let it play out and after December 14 what’s going to happen, I think it will be obvious.”
Kansas’ other GOP senator, Jerry Moran, acknowledged Biden’s status as president-elect in late November, but most of the GOP delegation from the state continues to dispute the results.
GOP Rep. Ron Estes, who represents the Wichita area, used Monday’s Electoral College vote as an opportunity to attack House Democrats for legislating remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ll see if Democrats in the House show up for work in January to elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker and count the votes for President when nearly one-third of her caucus has been mostly absent in recent months,” Estes said in a statement Monday.
Incoming Republican House member Tracey Mann, who will succeed Marshall in Kansas’ “Big First” congressional district, was among 26 incoming GOP lawmakers to sign a Tuesday letter to Pelosi demanding an investigation of the unsubstantiated fraud allegations promoted by Trump.
Mann’s political team did not immediately respond to a phone call and email Wednesday morning.
Mann, who served as Kansas lieutenant governor in 2018, promoted the debunked conspiracy theory about Hawaiian-born President Barack Obama’s birth certificate as an unsuccessful congressional candidate in 2010.
Rep. Sharice Davids, the Kansas delegation’s lone Democrat who worked in the U.S. Department of Transportation during the transition from Obama to Trump, said in November she was disappointed by state Republicans’ reluctance to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
“Despite President Trump’s continual efforts to undermine the results of this election and our democracy as a whole, President-Elect Biden is doing the work needed to hit the ground running on day one and get the coronavirus pandemic under control,” Davids said in a statement Wednesday after Marshall’s comments.
“It’s encouraging to see some of my Republican colleagues begin to acknowledge the results of this election, and it’s my sincere hope that the rest follow suit soon.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Incoming GOP Senator Roger Marshall undecided about blocking Biden’s electoral votes."
