Indiana senator joins group that plans to challenge election results

(The Center Square) – Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun said he will join 10 other Republicans and challenge the results of the presidential election when Congress meets in joint session Wednesday.

The group said it will reject electors from disputed states and has called for a commission to hold an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns from those states. They also want the disputed states to hold a special legislative session to certify votes in a manner consistent with the findings of the commission’s audit.

“The election of 2020, like the election of 2016, was hard fought and, in many swing states, narrowly decided,” the group said in a joint statement. “The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.”

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, has urged Republicans not to try and overturn the election, according to published reports.

If the senators follow through on their plan, it will force a vote in both the House and Senate on the challenges.

The group includes Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), James Lankford (Oklahoma), Steve Daines (Montana), John Kennedy (Louisiana), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming), Roger Marshall (Kansas), Bill Hagerty (Tennessee) and Tommy Tuberville (Alabama).

“On January 6, it is incumbent on Congress to vote on whether to certify the 2020 election results. That vote is the lone constitutional power remaining to consider and force resolution of the multiple allegations of serious voter fraud,” the statement said.

At the same time, a 10-member bipartisan group of senators, which includes Republicans Mitt Romeny (Utah), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), called on Congress to certify Joe Biden’s win.

Romney said the effort to challenge elections threatens the Republic.

“The egregious ploy to reject electors many enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic,” Romney said in a statement. “The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it.”

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