House, Senate block challenges to Arizona’s electoral votes

(Image credit: congress.gov via Getty Images)

published 7 January 2021

Congress shot down challenges to Arizona's electoral votes during Wednesday night's delayed Electoral College certification proceedings.

The Senate voted 93-6 against sustaining the objection, which was spearheaded by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz was joined by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), John Kennedy (R-La.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), but a handful of other senators who appeared likely to join them opted out, presumably changing their minds at least in part because President Trump's supporters breached the Capitol earlier in the day.

The House vote was a little closer, with 121 Republicans voting to sustain and 303 nay votes. There was never any chance the Democrat-led House would back the motion, but a majority of Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), supported it. Just as in the Senate, the House GOP saw some defections after Wednesday's events, but relatively speaking, the incident seemingly had less of an effect on the lower chamber's final tally. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.