Coalition of 7 conservative House Republicans says they won’t challenge election results

Seven conservative House Republicans said Sunday they would not join some 100 GOP colleagues in challenging the results of the presidential election this week.

“But only the states have the authority to appoint electors, in accordance with state law,” a letter led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) says. “Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process. Its job is to count the electors submitted by the states, not to determine which electors the states should have sent.”

In addition to Massie, the letter is signed by Reps. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

The letter opens by giving credence to President Trump’s frequent, unsubstantiated claims about widespread election fraud.

“The elections held in at least six battleground states raise profound questions, and it is a legal, constitutional, and moral imperative that they be answered,” it says.

But it goes on to note that no states have submitted competing slates of electors, including those with GOP-controlled legislatures.

“Unless that happens between now and January 6, 2021, Congress will have no authority to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election,” the letter states.

“Though doing so may frustrate our immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals,” the letter concludes. “We must count the electoral votes submitted by the states.”

A majority of the House Republican caucus is expected to join a challenge to Congress’ certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win on Wednesday. In the Senate, meanwhile, at least 12 Republicans have said they will object to the certification. The effort will almost certainly not prevent Biden from taking office, as an objection would have to pass the Democratic House and enough Senate Republicans for a majority have said they will not join the effort.

Of the letter’s signers, Buck and McClintock were the only ones to sign onto an earlier brief in support of a challenge to state electoral results brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), which the Supreme Court rejected. Mace, who defeated then-Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) in November, was not a member of Congress at the time.