Ohio Sen. Rob Portman will oppose an effort by some of his Republican colleagues to throw out President-elect Joe Biden鈥檚 electoral votes when Congress formalizes the presidential election results this week.
, saying he 鈥渃annot support allowing Congress to thwart the will of the voters鈥� by overturning Biden鈥檚 win.
A group of GOP senators and House members , forcing debate and votes, which are expected to fail. The move has divided GOP lawmakers as President Donald Trump presses fellow Republicans to nullify his defeat.
Portman, who is up for re-election in 2022, supported Trump鈥檚 re-election bid and has said that the president had a right to challenge the results in court. But in his statement Monday, Portman rebuffed Trump鈥檚 false claims of widespread voter fraud.
鈥淏ut after two months of recounts and legal challenges, not a single state recount changed a result and, of the dozens of lawsuits filed, not one found evidence of fraud or irregularities widespread enough to change the result of the election,鈥� Portman said. 鈥淭his was the finding of numerous Republican-appointed judges and the Trump Administration鈥檚 own Department of Justice.鈥�
At the same time, Ohio鈥檚 junior senator has called for a 鈥渂lue ribbon bipartisan panel on election integrity鈥� to re-examine the 2020 election and make recommendations for future races.
Members of the Electoral College cast presidential votes in statehouses around the country Dec. 14, awarding Biden 306 votes to Trump鈥檚 232. Ohio鈥檚 18 electoral votes went to Trump.
Congress meets in a joint session Wednesday to accept those votes formally. The objections are likely to slow down the process by injecting hours of debate into the otherwise routine procedure. But those objections will fail unless majorities in both the House and Senate vote to sustain them.
As a member of Congress in 2005, Portman joined House and Senate members in voting down an objection to George W. Bush鈥檚 win in Ohio raised by the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
鈥淚 was concerned then that Democrats were establishing a dangerous precedent where Congress would inappropriately assert itself to try to reverse the will of the voters,鈥� Portman said. 鈥淚 cannot now support Republicans doing the same thing.鈥�
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