US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has for the first time acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory and referred to him as President-elect, six weeks after Election Day and amid President Donald Trump’s continued refusal to accept defeat.
“The electoral college has spoken,” McConnell said in remarks from the Senate floor in the US Capitol, adding, “Today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.”
McConnell’s comments are significant given that many Senate Republicans still wouldn’t recognize Biden’s victory on Monday evening even after the Electoral College made the win official.
Democrats have criticized Republicans’ refusal to accept the outcome of the Election, and highlighted how it took more than 40 days since Americans went to the polls for many GOP members of Congress to speak up.
“The fact that it took six weeks for my colleagues to recognize reality and stop undermining our Democratic process is sad and disappointing,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin in a floor speech Tuesday following McConnell’s remarks.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, made the comments after praising the Trump presidency in the past tense, touting his administration’s accomplishments, including the country’s “economic prosperity,” “foreign policy,” judicial appointments, and “bold regulatory changes” in a floor speech.
“It would take far more than one speech to catalog all the major wins the Trump administration has helped deliver for the American people,” he said. “The outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments, both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that.
President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work and their essential roles in all these victories and in many more.”
In his floor remarks, McConnell also congratulated Vice-President elect Kamala Harris for the first time.
“I also want to congratulate the vice president-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris,” he said. “Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.”
McConnell said while millions wished the election would have yielded a different result, “our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th.
The Electoral College has spoken.”
Trump, even in defeat, holds enormous sway over his party, to the point where many refuse to publicly accept electoral reality or raise any concerns as the President continues to undermine the integrity of US democracy by lying that the election was rigged and stolen from him.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has yet to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
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