106 House Republicans support suit challenging blue states' election results — including 16 re-elected on the same ballots

Texas' attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election is wracked with contradictions.

On Tuesday, Texas' attorney general filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, alleging the states improperly manipulated voting rules. Seventeen red states have since filed in support of the suit, even though Texas and several other states had implemented the same mail-in and early-voting rules by the same methods. And in a further paradox on Thursday, 106 GOP House members also joined Texas' suit as amici curiae, despite the fact that many of them had been re-elected on the same ballots.

Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin flipped from electing President Trump in the 2016 election to going for President-elect Joe Biden in 2020. But those states all managed to elect and re-elect several Republican congressmembers — 16 of whom filed in support of the suit Thursday — using the exact same voting rules that also elected Biden.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Not every congressional Republican is onboard with the Texas suit. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) suggested Texas' attorney general was "begging for a pardon" and "filed a PR stunt rather than a lawsuit," while three members of the Texas delegation had their doubts. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has meanwhile offered to present the case for Trump in front of the Supreme Court. Kathryn Krawczyk