To accept or not to accept? That is the question facing Republicans regarding the outcome of the upcoming presidential election.
Donald Trump, the GOP presumptive presidential candidate, has already said he will not accept the results of the election if he loses, not all in the party are willing to jump on the bandwagon unless there is evidence of wrongdoing, The Hill reported.
Refusing to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election has become a litmus test for Republicans jockeying to become former President Trump’s running mate, but that’s making their Senate GOP colleagues uncomfortable about the prospect of another Jan. 6-style standoff if Trump loses.
A group of Senate Republicans are rejecting the idea that a victory for President Biden in November would likely be the result of fraud, sending a clear message to Trump and his allies that any attempt to challenge the results without clear evidence of misconduct won’t find much support in Washington.
“What happened in 2020 was something that most people never thought was possible — not only challenge the outcome of the election, question the legitimacy of the president and then work to stop the certification,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The events of Jan. 6 are still on the minds of voters, who now question if the same thing could happen again.
“It’s not a question that’s out of the blue. It’s something that’s important for people to know,” she said.
She added that either candidate — Trump or President Joe Biden — can challenge the election, but must be prudent in doing so. She cited clear evidence of fraud as an example.
“I want us to be in a place where we accept the outcome of fair and legitimate elections,” she said. “What I don’t like is the suggestion months and months and months prior to an election that there might be something nefarious at play.”
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) has said he would accept the results if they are validated by the courts.
Thune helped the opposition to Trump’s effort to block the certification of Biden’s victory on the Senate floor.
“I’m all for, in any election, if there are concerns about the election, whether or not there were fraudulent aspects to it, to allow all the mechanisms under the law — whether it’s recounts or audits or lawsuits, etc. — but when those are all done and settled, it’s over,” Thune said.
Thune predicted that an attempt to block the certification of the 2020 election on the Senate floor would go down “like a shot dog.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he will examine the election results with a keen eye, but expects to certify the election results like he did previously.
“I’m going to follow the same process I have in the elections of the past. I’m going to look at the process … And I would expect more likely than not I’m going to vote to certify the election results like I did in 2020,” Tillis said.
Many on the shortlist to be chosen as Trump’s vice president have declined to comment on the matter.
Front runner Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) declined to commitment when “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker asked him six times whether he would accept the results of the November election.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) avoided answering the question on NBC’s “Meet the Press.
“You’re asking the wrong person,” he said. “You have Democrats now saying they won’t certify 2024 because Trump is an insurrectionist and ineligible to hold office. So you need to ask them.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who still claims fraud in the 2020 election, called it a “ridiculous question” when asked if he would accept the election results.
“If the Democrats win, I will accept the result, but I’m not going to ignore fraud,” he said.
