Biden says GOP senators have called to congratulate him

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said that he has received private calls from “several” Republican senators congratulating him on his 2020 election win. 

“There have been more than several sitting Republican senators who have privately called me and congratulated me,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper in the former vice president’s first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. 

“And I understand the situation they find themselves in. And until the election is clearly decided in the minds when the Electoral College votes, they get put in a very tough position,” Biden added. 

Biden did not specify in the interview which Republican senators had called him. 

GOP Sens. Mitt Romney (Utah), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Ben Sasse (Neb.) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) have all released public statements congratulating Biden.

This comes as many Republicans have been slow to acknowledge Biden’s win, instead joining President Trump in his since-disputed claims of widespread voter fraud in the election.

Biden went on to say Thursday that he had spoken to multiple senators about key issues, adding that the work is “going to be hard.”

“I’m not suggesting it’s going to be easy. It’s going to be hard. But I’m confident that on the things that affect the national security and the fundamental economic necessity to keep people employed, to get people employed, to bring the economy back, there is plenty of room we can work,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly refused to concede since all major news outlets projected Biden as the winner on Nov. 7.

Earlier this week, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has not found evidence of any widespread fraud that would alter the result of the election, to which Trump reacted negatively on Thursday.

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks (R) confirmed to The Hill Wednesday his plans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress meets to certify the election for Biden on Jan. 6. 

“I’m doing this because in my judgment this is the worst election theft in the history of the United States. And if there was a way to determine the Electoral College outcome using only lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens, then Donald Trump won the Electoral College,” he told The Hill in an interview.

However, more Republicans are putting pressure on Trump to accept the results of the election as more courts throw out lawsuits from Trump’s legal team alleging voting irregularities and fraud, citing a lack of evidence. 

On Monday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), an adviser to Senate Republican leadership, said there is “no indication” that voting irregularities are widespread enough to change the outcome of the presidential election.