A member of the Democratic leadership in the House said his caucus will offer a defense against the Jan. 6 electoral challenge being led by GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate.
“The voters have spoken. The Electoral College has spoken. The courts have spoken,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, to reporters on Monday.
Jeffries added that Democrats are going to “defend in a serious, solemn, and substantive fashion” when the Joint Session of Congress meets and when Republicans lodge objections.
An effort in the House is being led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who for weeks has said he would challenge the electoral votes for key states. The effort requires both a senator and a representative, and several Republican senators have pledged to challenge the votes, being led by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Several GOP senators and House representatives said they would not partake in the challenge, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) have reportedly told Republicans that challenging the electoral vote could be a politically perilous move.
On Jan. 3, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) laid out a strategy for Democrats during the Joint Session. She claimed in a statement that Vice President Mike Pence—who is the president of the Senate—”presides over a Joint Session and calls the roll of states.”
“The tellers announce the results of each state, alphabetically. There is no other discussion in the Joint Session,” Pelosi wrote. “If a written objection is lodged by a member of the House and Senate, we then meet in our individual chambers for up to two hours of debate. Only then will members be recognized to speak on the floor. Unless both the House and Senate vote to reject the electoral count for the state in question, the objection is rejected.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks to reporters in Washington on Dec. 20, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The statement further suggests that House Democrats have been working on methods of how to defend against the electoral challenges lodged by GOP members of Congress in favor of President Donald Trump.
“Constitutional authorities and our membership have been working on the Democratic presentation of the constitutional, historical, and thematic justification” for their defense, according to her statement. She added that Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) have provided “patriotic” and “strategic guidance,” adding that they will meet before Wednesday, Jan. 6.
Pelosi then asserted that she believes Joe Biden will be certified as the next president after the challenges are completed.
After a senator and representative object to a state’s electoral votes, a two-hour debate is then carried out. A simple majority vote is held on whether or not to certify the state’s votes.