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Following Chaos, Tennessee Senators Backtrack To Certify Electoral College Vote

PBS

 

For weeks, Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty pledged to vote to overturn the election results, alluded to false claims of voter fraud in some states and questioned the legitimacy of the election for weeks.

But late Wednesday night, they both flipped and voted to not block the results of the electoral college in Arizona. Congress convened into the wee hours of the morning to certify the election results for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

The backtracking by Blackburn and Hagerty followed a day of chaos, as the U.S. Capitol went on lockdown Wednesday afternoon and pro-Trump extremists stormed the building.

All of the Tennessee lawmakers in D.C. — Democrat and Republican — have condemned the mob’s actions. But the Republican delegation has supported the election conspiracy theories that served as a motivation for the chaos.

The mob stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was debating whether to certify the electoral votes of the state of Arizona, a state won by President-elect Joe Biden.

In an interview with WPLN News, Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, said his staff had to barricade in their office, using a desk to block the door. He said the mob inside the Capitol are engaging in “sedition” and was encouraged by the president. 

“It’s one thing to be attacked by a foreign power. It’s another thing for our own people to have all this misplaced anger. So the president is trying to claim power, he’s willing to do anything to keep it,” Cooper said. “These are not bad people but they’ve been fed lies and they’ve acted on those lies. And I’m hopeful that sensible Tennesseans will come to their senses and do better.” 

In an afternoon tweet, Blackburn said she was sheltering in place.

“These actions at the US Capitol by protestors are truly despicable and unacceptable,” Blackburn tweeted at 1:56 p.m. “I condemn them in the strongest possible terms. We are a nation of laws.”

 

 

Democrat and Memphis Rep. Steve Cohen said in a tweet that he had to wear a gas mask to exit the House chamber. Other lawmakers have stated the same thing.

 

 

The other congressman representing Shelby County, David Kustoff, condemned the violence via Twitter. A Republican, he intended to vote against certifying election results. In the end, he only voted against certifying Pennsylvannia's results but not Arizona's. He was the only Republican house represenative from Tennessee to side with the state's two Democrat represenatives on the Arizona vote.  WKNO reached out for comment but has not heard back. 

 

 

This story was updated Thursday morning.  

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán is Nashville Public Radio’s political reporter. Prior to moving to Nashville, Sergio covered education for the Standard-Examiner newspaper in Ogden, Utah. He is a Puerto Rico native and his work has also appeared on NPR station WKAR, San Antonio Express-News, Inter News Service, GFR Media and WMIZ 1270 AM.