GOP Rep Reverses Course, Says She Will Vote To Certify Election in Light of Capitol Incursion
Amid the political reverberations of the protests and rioting that turned the U.S. Capitol into a chaotic frenzy in which one woman was killed, one Republican who had been planning to oppose certifying the Electoral College’s vote is changing her tune.
Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state said that when the certification process resumes after being interrupted by the protests and riots Wednesday, she will not object to the results as she would have done if a riot-inspired lockdown had not interrupted the session, according to The Spokesman-Review of Spokane.
Congress had been meeting Wednesday to certify the Electoral College results when protests outside and riots inside the Capitol led to a lockdown, postponing action.
The interior of the Capitol had been secured in advance of the vote, reporters on Capitol Hill confirmed.
OK…now the Capitol is secure pic.twitter.com/u5HgxkFbOj
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) January 7, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the session would resume.
“Today, a shameful assault was made on our democracy. It was anointed at the highest level of government. It cannot, however, deter us from our responsibility to validate the election of Joe Biden,” she wrote in a “dear colleague” message posted on her website.
“To that end, in consultation with Leader Hoyer and Whip Clyburn and after calls to the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Vice President, we have decided we should proceed tonight at the Capitol once it is cleared for use,” Pelosi added.
“We also knew that we would be a part of history in a positive way, today, despite ill-founded objections to the Electoral College vote. We now will be part of history, as such a shameful picture of our country was put out to the world, instigated at the highest level.”
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia also said he expected the certification process to finish Wednesday night.
“These thugs aren’t running us off,” Manchin said, according to CNN.
McMorris said the afternoon of violence made her change her mind.
“What we have seen today is unlawful and unacceptable. I have decided I will vote to uphold the Electoral College results and I encourage Donald Trump to condemn and put an end to this madness,” she said in a statement.
“What happened today and continues to unfold in the nation’s capital is disgraceful and un-American.
“Thugs assaulted Capitol Police Officers, breached and defaced our Capitol Building, put people’s lives in danger, and disregarded the values we hold dear as Americans. To anyone involved, shame on you.”
McMorris Rodgers had said that she shared the concern expressed by many Republicans that in some states, legislatures were bypassed by the executive or judicial branches, leading to an election process that was not constitutional.
In the aftermath of citizens roaming the Capitol, she said, “We must have a peaceful transfer of power.”
“The only reason for my objection was to give voice to the concern that governors and courts unilaterally changed election procedures without the will of the people and outside of the legislative process,” she added.
McMorris Rodgers implied she did not want to encourage acting outside the law.
“I have been consistent in my belief that Americans should utilize the Constitutional tools and legal processes available to seek answers to their questions about the 2020 election,” she said.
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