President-elect Donald Trump formally won the Electoral College Tuesday as Republican electors affirmed his victory in the Nov. 5 election — with the final certification by Congress on Jan. 6 expected to be a mere formality.
Trump, 78, topped the required 270 electoral votes before 4 p.m. as electors convened in statehouses across the country, with Texas sealing his victory.
Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Peter Welch of Vermont protested Monday by introducing a proposed constitutional amendment to do away with the Electoral College, arguing it unfairly benefits more conservative states with smaller populations
In the past, the losing side of an election occasionally used the Jan. 6 ceremonies to complain about their candidate’s defeat — with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) in 2017 objecting to the certification of Trump’s win by claiming “10 of the 29 electoral votes cast by Florida were cast by electors not lawfully certified.”
Trump encouraged supporters in Congress to challenge his 2020 Electoral College defeat by arguing that officials unlawfully expanded mail-in voting and voter registration deadlines.