Top Pennsylvania Republicans pressure congressional delegation to challenge Biden’s victory

Dozens of Pennsylvania Republican state legislators, including the speaker of the House, are calling on the state's Republican-heavy congressional delegation to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory when federal lawmakers certify the presidential election Jan. 6.

"[W]e the undersigned members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly urge you to object, and vote to sustain such objection, to the Electoral College votes received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the state's congressional delegation. Though an initial version included 75 signatories — more than half of the GOP lawmakers in the legislature — it was quickly pulled after some lawmakers indicated they didn't intend to sign onto the letter.

The escalation from Republican lawmakers in the crucial swing state is the most aggressive effort to date from GOP elected officials to block Biden's election, and it comes amid an increasingly forceful pressure campaign from President Donald Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani. Though Trump and his allies have been claiming widespread fraud and misconduct, they've produced no evidence to support their allegations and have been repeatedly shot down in their legal efforts to throw out millions of Biden votes across the country.

The new push in Pennsylvania stands in stark contrast to the reaction of House Republicans in Arizona, where Speaker Rusty Bowers rebuked the Trump-led pressure campaign on Friday, calling Giuliani's demands "breathtaking."

"I and my fellow legislators swore an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and the constitution and laws of the state of Arizona," said Bowers. "It would violate that oath, the basic principles of republican government and the rule of law if we attempted to nullify the people's vote based on unsupported theories of fraud."

As the Trump campaign's federal and state lawsuits floundered — they lost yet another round of litigation in Michigan and Nevada on Friday — Trump and Giuliani began leaning on state legislators, urging them to assert control over the election process and simply appoint Trump electors to supersede Biden's slate. But that effort also gained little traction.

Giuliani on Friday assailed Republican-controlled legislatures across the country, saying they let Trump down by refusing to intervene and declare Trump the winner in states Biden carried, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.

"Republican Legislature [sic] let down America. I’m ashamed of them," Giuliani tweeted Friday. "They completely misled the President and me. All of us Republicans let them know what we think of them."

As Trump's legal challenges and political efforts to overturn the results have faltered, he has turned his attention to Congress, where the Jan. 6 certification of presidential electors is the final step in confirming Biden's victory. That process affords the power to challenge electors to any two lawmakers — a House member and a senator acting in concert.

Several Republican House members have already signaled their intention to challenge Biden's electors in Georgia. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) told POLITICO he plans to lodge an objection if a senator is willing to join him, a declaration that earned Trump's praise on Thursday. Other Republicans, including Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have indicated they back the effort as well, and Greene has been publicly lobbying for a senator to join their push.

The letter from the Pennsylvania lawmakers is certain to drive up pressure on the Republicans in the state's congressional delegation, which includes prominent Trump allies like Rep. Scott Perry, a member of the Freedom Caucus.

Even if a senator joins a challenge, the effort is unlikely to do more than delay Biden's victory. Several GOP senators have already indicated they consider Biden the president-elect and are unlikely to back a challenge to his inauguration — more than enough to join with the chamber's Democrats and uphold Biden's victory. In addition, the Democratic House is certain to support Biden's victory.