Here are the Mississippi members of Congress who objected to certifying electoral votes
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was one of few U.S. senators on Wednesday to object to the certification of the electoral votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania, states that duly elected Democrat Joe Biden as president in November over Republican President Donald Trump.
Hyde-Smith, an ardent Trump supporter, backed the effort of a small number of Senate Republicans who aimed to overturn Biden’s victory by pushing disproven theories and inaccuracies about Arizona and Pennsylvania botching the election process.
All three Mississippi Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives were among the several House Republicans on Wednesday to object to the certification.
Reps. Trent Kelly, Michael Guest and Steven Palazzo — all ardent supporters of Trump — backed the failed effort. They were among 121 House Republicans who objected to the electoral vote of Arizona and among 138 House Republicans who objected to the Pennsylvania electoral vote.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s only Democrat in Washington, voted to certify all 50 states. Before their votes late Wednesday night, Kelly and Guest had previously acknowledged that Biden had won the election.
“The United States Constitution gives state legislatures the exclusive jurisdiction to determine how elections will be conducted, commonly referred to as the Electors Clause,” Guest said in a statement after the vote. “Simply put, these states failed to conduct elections that followed the requirements set up by their state legislatures and outlined in our Constitution.”
By Thursday morning, Kelly and Palazzo had not yet publicly justified why they voted the way they did.
Hyde-Smith had remained silent before Wednesday about how she would vote on the certification of the Biden presidential victory in several states. In a statement on Wednesday night, Hyde-Smith said she heard from “many Mississippians who are troubled by the conduct of the election in various states and the eventual outcome.”
“I, along with my constituents, are alarmed with the erosion of integrity of the electoral process,” Hyde-Smith said in the statement. “The people I represent do not believe the presidential election was constitutional and cannot accept the electoral college decision; therefore, I cannot in good conscience support certification.”
All six senators who objected to the Arizona certification and the seven who objected to Pennsylvania on Wednesday night were Republicans and loyal supporters of the current president. The other senators voted to certify the elections, with key leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties blistering their colleagues who planned to vote against certification.
“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. All I can say is count me out, enough is enough,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican. “When it’s over, it is over. It’s over.”
Republican Roger Wicker, Mississippi’s senior U.S. senator, voted to certify all 50 state results.
“(The Trump) campaign lost a close election, and it is time to acknowledge that,” Wicker said in a statement earlier this week. “The president’s own attorney general, his head of election security, and a number of Trump-appointed, conservative federal judges all have found that, despite widespread allegations of fraud, there simply was not enough evidence to change the outcome of the election in any state.”
Wicker continued: “I know many of my fellow Mississippians will disagree with my decision, and I share their commitment to making sure our elections are fair. But I must vote according to my conscience, my oath of office, and my understanding of the rule of law. I hope that with the start of a new Congress, we can take steps to restore faith in America’s electoral system.”
Congress met in joint session on Wednesday to certify the electoral votes from the states. Biden, a Democrat, received 306 of the 538 elector votes from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though the certification of the electoral votes from the states is normally a formality, the law allows Congress to reject them and theoretically select the new president.
Republicans did not have nearly enough votes in the House or Senate to reject the Biden election, and constitutional scholars questioned whether Congress could overturn the results in the first place.
A group of House and Senate Republicans — ardent supporters of Trump, who has for weeks pushed disproven theories about widespread election fraud — indicated last week they would challenge those electoral votes from certain states Biden won.