If President Donald Trump is going to overturn the results of the November election, he'll have to do it without the help of Rep. Thomas Massie.
The U.S. congressman from Kentucky released a joint statement with six other House members on Sunday denouncing a planned objection to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's win when Congress meets in a joint session on Wednesday.
"The text of the Constitution is clear. States select electors. Congress does not. Accordingly, our path forward is also clear. We mush respect the states' authority here," the statement said. "Though doing so may frustrate or immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals."
The seven Republicans began their statement by expressing outrage at the "significant abuses in our election system" through "reckless" adoption of mail-in ballots leading up to the November election.
Trump and several other congressional leaders have complained of voter fraud tied to the widespread use of mail-in ballots during the pandemic, though no evidence supports claims of a rigged election.
"The people cannot trust a system that refuses to guarantee that only legal votes are cast to select its leaders," the representatives wrote. "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."
However, they continued, "only the states have authority to appoint electors, in accordance with state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process."
The legislative body's role is to count the electors submitted by states, not to determine which electors should have been sent, the representatives said.
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Massie, along with Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D.; Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.; Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Tom McClintock, R-Cal.; and Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Congress will have no authority to influence the outcome of the election unless a state decides to send a new slate of votes to Congress before Wednesday.
"To take action otherwise — that is, to unconstitutionally insert Congress into the center of the presidential election process — would amount to stealing power from the people and the states. It would, in effect, replace the electoral college with Congress, and in doing so strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant."
There has been a sharp divide between Congress Republicans over the results of the 2020 presidential election, with some accepting Biden's win and others refusing to acknowledge Trump's defeat. That divide deepened last week as a dozen GOP Senators declared they will join their House colleagues in objecting to the certification of Biden's win.
Trump has repeatedly called on congressional Republicans to step up and object to the Electoral College votes on his behalf, spouting baseless claims of election fraud. He praised Rep. Mo Brooke after the Alabama Republican announced in early December his plans to challenge the Electoral College votes. Two GOP House members told CNN that at least 140 House Republicans are expected to object to the certification of the vote, but the challenge is unlikely to succeed.
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Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, was the first senator to say he will object to the Electoral College results when Congress meets this week, but he received swift criticism from senior Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Massie, who represents Northern Kentucky in the House or Representatives, had previously tweeted on New Year's Eve that he would "vote to reject a state’s electors if a majority of that state’s legislature formally indicates that we should reject that state’s electors."
Massie is a noted Trump supporter, but he and the president have been at odds before. Trump once referred to the eccentric Bluegrass State representative as "a third rate Grandstander" and a "disaster for America" for wanting to vote against the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress in March.
In their statement released Sunday, Massie and the others pointed out Republican presidential candidates have relied on the electoral college for nearly all of the party's victories in recent decades, as they have only won the national popular vote once in the last 32 years.
"There is one and only one path to victory for President Trump on January 6, 2021, and it depends on state legislatures certifying Trump electors in the states at issue, pursuant to state law and the U.S. Constitution, and based on a finding that votes lawfully cast in November were sufficient to produce a Trump victory."
USA TODAY contributed to this article.
Reach Emma Austin at eaustin@gannett.com or on Twitter at @emmacaustin.
