How many Republican lawmakers have turned on Trump urging him to start Biden transition?
Following the declaration of Joe Biden as the winner of this year's election, a large majority of GOP lawmakers have remained silent on the former vice president’s win.
The absence of support for the transition process from Republicans comes amid President Donald Trump’s legal challenges to the election and continued vows to overturn the result, without having provided evidence of voting fraud.
However, as the days since the election have passed, a select number of GOP lawmakers have begun turning on the president, publicly acknowledging Mr Biden as president-elect and urging Mr Trump to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.
Who are the handful of Republican lawmakers who have spoken out about Mr Biden’s win?
Five Senate Republicans have congratulated Mr Biden on winning the 2020 presidential election: Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, Utah Senator Mitt Romney, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, Maine Senator Susan Collins, and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.
Lisa Murkowski
Sen Murkowski on Sunday urged Mr Trump to accept defeat in the US presidential election, releasing a statement on Twitter saying Mr Biden had beaten Mr Trump fairly.
“Each state has worked to ensure a free and fair elections process. President Trump has had the opportunity to litigate his claims, and the courts have found them without merit,” she said.
“It is time to begin the full and formal transition process”
She previously congratulated Mr Biden and Kamala Harris, saying she “will be ready to work with their administration when it takes office.”
Pat Toomey
Sen Toomey offered his congratulations to Mr Biden in a lengthy statement on Sunday in light of a federal judge’s dismissal of the Trump campaign’s lawsuit challenging the election results in Pennsylvania.
“I congratulate president-elect Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris on their victory. They are both dedicated public servants and I will be praying for them and for our country,” he said.
“President Trump should accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the presidential transition process.”
Read my statement on today’s Pennsylvania federal court decision, and congratulating President-Elect Biden: https://t.co/tCCXWxIUoR pic.twitter.com/MaxfHCtK1x
— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) November 22, 2020
Susan Collins
Sen Collins reached out to Mr Biden on 9 November and urged Americans to be patient as the election process concluded.
“First, I would offer my congratulations to president-elect Biden on his apparent victory — he loves this country, and I wish him every success,” Sen Collins said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The process has not failed our country in more than 200 years, and it is not going to fail our country this year,” she added.
Mitt Romney
Sen Romney was the first GOP senator to congratulate the president-elect following the announcement of his win.
“Ann and I extend our congratulations to president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris. We know both of them as people of good will and admirable character," he said.
The former presidential candidate, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Mr Trump, also said that the Trump campaign’s continued unsubstantiated allegation that the election was rigged “damages the cause of freedom here and around the world.”
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) November 20, 2020
Ben Sasse
“Melissa and I congratulate the next president, Joe Biden, and the next vice president, Kamala Harris,” Nebraska lawmaker Ben Sassse said in a statement to The Omaha World-Herald on 9 November.
“Today in our house we pray for both president Trump and president-elect Biden, that both would be wise in the execution of their respective duties during this important time in our nation.”
What about the rest of the Senate?
Senators who have not directly congratulated Mr Biden but who have suggested he will likely be inaugurated include Florida Sen Marco Rubio, Idaho Sen James Risch, and Tennessee Sen Lamar Alexander.
In a statement released on Friday, Sen Alexander said there was a “very good chance” Mr Biden would assume the presidency on 20 January and Mr Trump should assist in the transition.
Another smaller group of lawmakers have called for Mr Biden to receive intelligence briefings from the White House but have declined to call him president-elect, such as Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Oklahoma Sen James Lankford and Mississippi Sen Roger Wicker.
Last week Sen Wicker said it would be “reasonable” to give Mr Biden security briefings. In response to a question about Mr Trump demanding on Twitter he had won the election Sen Wicker said: “I wouldn't advise that he put it that way.”
What about the House of Representatives?
The GOP incumbents in the House of Representatives who have either acknowledged Mr Biden’s victory or suggested he is likely the winner of the election so far are GOP House Leader Jim Durkin, House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, Illinois Rep Adam Kinzinger, Nebraska Rep Don Bacon, Florida Rep Francis Rooney, Alaska Rep Dan Young, Illinois Rep John Shimkus, Michigan Rep Paul Mitchell, New York Rep Tom Reed, Utah Rep John Curtis, Virginia Rep Denver Riggleman, Michigan Rep Fred Upton and Texas Rep Kay Granger.
What will happen next?
Experts have warned that the reluctance of Republicans within the party to acknowledge Mr Biden as the president-elect becomes more and more risky as the president’s legal battles continue to fail – and that their hesitancy in doing so could define careers for years to come.
“It’s hit the point where the Republican Party’s letting Trump’s pout go on too long,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, a professor at Rice University in Texas.
“It’s making future stars of the Republican Party look tiny and small,” Prof Brinkley said. “All of these senators are going to carry a dark mark on their legacy for coddling Trump after he lost.”
The president has received pressure from other prominent members of the GOP to end his legal challenges and accept the result of the election.
On Sunday prominent Trump ally and former Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, called the president’s legal team’s actions a “national embarrassment."
“What’s happened here, quite frankly, the conduct of the president’s legal team has been a national embarrassment,” he said.
Lawmakers may soon be forced to confront the result of the election with key upcoming deadlines as states are expected to certify election results by 8 December and the electoral college deadline less than a week later on 14 December.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
