Texas’ two U.S. senators are split on whether they will vote to certify the electoral votes for Joe Biden in Congress on January 6.
Sen. Ted Cruz stated over the weekend he would join at least 10 other Republican senators in objecting to the certification. Instead, Cruz is demanding an emergency 10-day audit of the election results to search for fraud.
“I think we can do that. We can do it promptly,” said Cruz. “We can do it in 10 days, before the inauguration, but I think we have an obligation to the voters and we have an obligation to the Constitution to ensure that this election was lawful.”
On Tuesday, however, Texas’ senior Sen. John Cornyn said he would not be joining his colleague, and would instead vote to certify the election results. In a statement, Cornyn called Cruz’s emergency audit plan “designed to fail” and said he would not object to certifying results based on “unproven allegations.”
“To state the obvious, I—along with millions of Texans—hoped President Trump would be elevated to a second term,” said Cornyn.
“Any one person’s disappointment, however, cannot and should not override the legitimate votes of millions of Americans and our duty to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States. Doing so would be a violation of my oath, do irreparable harm to our great democracy, and set a dangerous precedent for future elections,” he added.
Cornyn is not alone in Texas’ congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy has repeatedly stated he will not object to the certification of the election results either, saying he does not believe Congress has the constitutional authority to do so.
President Donald Trump, however, has argued Congress has the authority and responsibility to do so, and he has praised Cruz for his actions.
“Since the election, we have put forth indisputable evidence documenting the rampant fraud which will be announced on Wednesday,” Trump said at a rally in Georgia on Monday night. “I want to thank Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz and all of the incredible senators that have stepped up to fight, because they’ve seen what happened. They know it’s a fraud.”
