Ted Cruz suggested the Senate hold a 'commission' to investigate election results. Bipartisan senators immediately tore him apart.

Sen. Ted Cruz.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter)

In his opposition to the counting of electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested Congress "follow the precedent" of another disputed election.

In 1877, just a few years after the end of the Civil War, a disputed election was resolved with a bipartisan electoral commission that put former Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House, but also ended most of the Reconstruction efforts aimed at enforcing the end of slavery and white supremacy in the South. The 1877 commission allowed Jim Crow laws to take hold in the South and remain for nearly a century later. But without much regard for that racist history, Cruz suggested today's Congress follow 1877's lead.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.