At least 140 Republicans in the House of Representatives reportedly are expected to vote against counting the electoral votes on Jan. 6 when Congress meets to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
Reps. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., Jody Hice, R-Ga., Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., and Joe Wilson, R-S.C., are among more than one dozen Republican House members who have said they'll vote against counting the Electoral College votes next week.
Two Republican representatives told CNN they expect at least 140 of their GOP colleagues to join in the effort. Eight Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania announced their intentions to take part in a joint statement Thursday.
Several incoming Republican House members also have said they will object to the certification process in a joint session of Congress. They include Rep.-elects Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn.
President Donald Trump has alleged that voter fraud in several battleground states accounted for Biden's triumph. The president and his team have fought unsuccessfully in the courts to prove their claims.
It's widely believed Republicans have little chance of overturning the outcome, though objections to the certification will delay the process a few hours.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged Republicans not to challenge the election results, but Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has vowed to do so.
Both chambers of Congress will then break off separately for two hours of debate on the electors.
Among Republican senators not interested in challenging the Electoral College is Ben Sasse, R-Neb. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Sasse urged lawmakers to "reject" the effort to try and overturn the election results.
"The president and his allies are playing with fire," Sasse wrote. "They have been asking — first the courts, then state legislatures, now the Congress — to overturn the results of a presidential election. They have unsuccessfully called on judges and are now calling on federal officeholders to invalidate millions and millions of votes.
"If you make big claims, you had better have the evidence. But the president doesn't and neither do the institutional arsonist members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote."