SC’s Tim Scott won’t support GOP-led attempt to overturn Biden win in 2020 election
South Carolina’s U.S. Sen. Tim Scott said Tuesday that he will not support his Republican colleagues’ attempt to overturn the Electoral College certification that gave President-elect Joe Biden his win in November.
“As I read the Constitution, there is no constitutionally viable means for the Congress to overturn an election wherein the states have certified and sent their Electors,” the North Charleston native and Senate’s sole Black Republican said. “Some of my colleagues believe they have found a path, and while our opinions differ, I do not doubt their good intentions to take steps towards stamping out voter fraud.”
Scott said he disagrees with his colleagues’ decision both “in principle and in practice.”
“For their theory to work, (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats would have to elect Donald Trump president rather than Joe Biden. That it is not going to happen, not today or any other day,” Scott said.
In Washington midday Wednesday, Congress will hold a multi-hour joint session to count electoral votes.
But dozens of Republicans in the House and Senate — some looking at 2024 presidential and reelection runs — have thrown a wrench into an otherwise perfunctory process, looking for a last-moment chance to side with the president’s unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud despite Trump’s flurry of rejected court challenges.
The vote to overturn is more than likely to fail but the debate is slated to stretch hours.
Should there be a tie, the House will decide the presidency and each congressional delegation has one vote.
That has not occurred since the 1800s, according to the Associated Press.
For days, Scott had stayed silent on his Wednesday plans, instead focusing on Georgia where Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue are in a neck-and-neck battle against Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, to win back their Senate seats to help Republicans reclaim the majority.
But Scott said despite interest, “and desirous to see any new and credible evidence,” there did not appear to be a path forward.
”The President’s legal team exercised its right to access the courts by initiating suits in state and federal courts in numerous states. Some of these lawsuits have even been presided over and adjudicated by conservative judges nominated by President Trump,” Scott said. “Thus far, no justice, judge or fact finder has found evidence indicating the election results in those states should be overturned.”
Four of South Carolina’s House Republicans — U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, William Timmons and Joe Wilson — say they will object to the results. Myrtle Beach’s U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, like Graham, said Monday he had not made his decision.
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a close Biden ally and now the delegation’s sole Democrat, will not object.
And freshman House Rep. Nancy Mace, of Charleston, who gave Republicans back control of a House seat lost in 2018 to former Rep. Joe Cunningham, joined a group of lawmakers to say she she will not object to the results.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 2:49 PM.
