Republicans are openly acknowledging Biden as President-elect
Republicans publicly recognizing Biden as next WH occupant
A number of notable GOP figures have now recognized Biden as President-elect while Trump and other Republicans are still not ready to concede. Following Biden’s projected victory and by major media outlets, Trump has launched a barrage of lawsuits to challenger the electoral outcome and has repeatedly alleged voter fraud. Keeping with narrative, President’s administration has prohibited President-elect from accessing State Department’s support to receive messages from foreign leaders. However, a growing number of Republicans have begun supporting Biden to various extents as the 46th President of United States effective Jan 20, 2021. Here are some of them:
GOP members recognizing Joe Biden as President-elect
Former Republican President Bush on Sunday congratulated President and VP-elect Biden and Kamala Harris for the victories. The only living former GOP President said, Trump “has the right to request recounts and purse legal challenger,” but said Biden is a clear winner in the White House election.
“The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear,” he said.
Top Bush aide Karl Rove
Karl Rove, recognized as an architect of the Bush’s Presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, wrote in an op-ed for Wall Street Journal the election’s result could not be overturned regardless of the legal challenges field by Trump.
Through he didn’t’ congratulated or even mentioned Biden as President-elect, said Trump has the right to launch litigations but his efforts “are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden’s column, and certainly they’re not enough to change the final outcome.”
Rove who advised WH administration and Trump campaign ahead of the final race, said in order for Trump to win, he must “”prove systemic fraud, with illegal votes in the tens of thousands,” but there is no such evidence as of yet.
Ohio Governor. Mike Dwine
DeWine who backed Trump for another four years in office talking to John Berman of CNN said that “we need to consider the former VP as the President-elect.”
Joe Biden is the President-elect,” he said. Liker others he also backed fellow-Republican’s right to challenge the results in the courts but admitted that it appears that Democrat will be the next inmate of White House.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan
Hogan, a moderate Republican who didn’t endorse Trump for the second term, congratulated Biden for capturing the projected win. Talking to Jake Tapper the day after news organizations announced the projected winner, he said Trump “ought to at least acknowledge that he will” eventually concede. He after criticized President for stalling the transfer of power during COVID-19 pandemic:
“With no stimulus package getting done with, with no additional virus relief with, you know, it’s crazy. We’ve got to move on.”
Biden publicly endorsed by a growing number of Republicans as President-elect
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker
Baker who also didn’t endorse Donald Trump for re-election, congratulated Biden and Harris through a series of tweets on Saturday afternoon.
Though the governor said that if “the courts do get involved, they must move quickly to make fact-based, lawful decisions,” he called the President’s claims of voter fraud “baseless” and, like Hogan, bashed Trump for not facilitating a peaceful transition.
Maine Senator Susan Collins
Collins a moderate Republican also congratulated Democratic President-elect.
“Presidential transitions are important, and the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect should be given every opportunity to ensure that they are ready to govern on January 20th,” Collins said in a statement.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski
Murkowski congratulated Biden and Harris in a statement hours after the end of race. She joined other senators calling for the smooth transition which she said “is fundamental to our system of democracy and ultimately honors the American people.”
Utah Senator Mitt Romney
Romney who didn’t vote for GOP-President in the election went a step further and appealed the nation to rally behind Democrat as President-elect on Sunday, adding that he has seen no evidence of polling fraud.
“I do believe, however, that it’s destructive to the cause of democracy to suggest widespread fraud or corruption. There’s just no evidence of that at this stage,” Romney, who was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told Tapper on “State of the Union.”
