'Can’t certify the election': GOP reps say 'protracted' speakership battle could delay Trump

24 December 2024

On Monday, January 6, 2025, President-elect Donald Trump's Electoral College victory in the 2024 election is scheduled to be confirmed during a joint session of Congress.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump narrowly defeated in November, will oversee the counting of electoral votes. And she has made it abundantly clear that she won't interfere with the session and views her role as strictly ceremonial.

Three days before the January 6 confirmation, a new Congress will be seated — and the U.S. House of Representatives will need to choose a speaker. Whether that speaker will be Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) or someone else remains to be seen.

According to Newsweek's Khaleda Rahman, some Republicans fear that a contentious battle to get a speaker confirmed could delay Trump's certification on January 6. These Republicans, Rahman reports, are "urging" Trump "to publicly reaffirm support for him to avoid a lengthy battle to replace him."

Such a battle took place in January 2023 following the 2022 midterms, which found Republicans flipping the House.

After then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) was nominated for speaker, it took no less than 15 votes before he was finally confirmed. And McCarthy held that position until being ousted in October 2023.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida), told Fox News Digital, "If we have some kind of protracted fight where we can't elect a speaker — the speaker's not elected; we're not sworn in. And if we're not sworn in, we can't certify the election."

Similarly, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New York) told Fox News Digital, "To ensure President Trump can take office and hit the ground running on January 20, we must be able to certify the 2024 election on January 6. However, without a speaker, we cannot complete this process."

Read the full Newsweek article at this link.

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