In preparation for the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress convened to count electoral votes, there are now close to 140 Republican Congressmen and 13 Republican Senators lined up to challenge specific state electors and to call for the creation of a special commission that will take ten days to carry out an audit of the vote. Aside from the 13 Senators lined up to oppose some of Biden’s electoral votes, there are another 13 whose commitment is unclear or not yet stated. Twenty-five are firmly in favor of counting all of Biden’s electoral votes.
It is the case that Senators must challenge the electors of individual states, and while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) had announced that he will challenge Pennsylvania’s electoral slate, and possibly those of other battleground states as well, there has been skepticism among some Republican layers about whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) would commit to challenging an individual state. This afternoon, several media — the Washington Post, The Hill, and others — reported that Cruz intended to object to Arizona’s electoral college results, along with Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs. Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who is running in today’s Georgia election, also announced that she would likely challenge Georgia’s electoral slate, The Hill reported. Cruz is also strongly pushing the option of creating the above-mentioned special commission.
