Republicans Take Control of Congress — and Harris Certifies Her Own Loss
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What happened during the electoral vote certification ceremony?
Well, I think today's ceremony really underscored what is supposed to be the pro forma nature of the January 6th congressional counting of electoral votes. This is a performative ritual in which Congress counts the electoral votes from each state and certifies the election of whoever won the presidency. Obviously, if your first introduction to this ceremony was four years ago, you had a very different view of what happened on that day. Indeed. And so today's counting of electoral votes really was what was supposed to happen.
The House come to order. The Senate and House of Representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several states for President and Vice President of the United States.
You had Vice President Kamala Harris overseeing the entire ceremony, overseeing essentially Congress certifying her own loss.
How did Kamala Harris oversee her own electoral loss?
The certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Maryland seems to be regular in form and authentic. And it appears they're from the Kamala D. Harris of the state of California, received 10 votes for president, and Tim Walz of the state of Minnesota received 10 votes for vice president.
And you had a pretty stark scene, I think, in which she's standing there sort of staring straight ahead as one by one lawmakers stand up and they are announcing the states that she won as a presidential candidate, but they're also announcing the states that she lost.
Certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Michigan. The certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Nevada. The certificate of the electoral vote of the great state of Wisconsin seems to be regular in form and authentic. And it appears therefrom that Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida received 10 votes for president and J.D. Vance of the state of Ohio received 10 votes for vice president.
And so as we go through the roll call of states, not only are we reliving sort of the calls on election night, but Harris is reliving it too.
The votes for president of the United States are as follows. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes.
And at the end of this entire process, it falls to her to be the one to say that Trump was the candidate who won the electoral votes to win the presidency. Thank you very much.
Right. It's all very respectful and it's the peaceful transfer of power in action. To your point earlier, a restoration of what is supposed to be a routine.
Yeah, that's exactly right. I think lawmakers were largely pretty relieved to see that they were able to all come together here, complete their ceremony without any major events. But I also think at the same time, you'd be kidding yourself if you pointed to this particular vote. and said, well, Congress is going to be a pretty drama-free institution, a pretty united institution moving forward, when in fact, you only have to look back to the vote that played out on the House floor on Friday with the re-election of Mike Johnson to the speakership to see there are some pretty raw divisions within the House Republican Conference that are likely going to animate this Congress moving forward.
Well, talk us through that. What exactly happened last Friday?
Well, really, Michael, this is the continuation of the story that you and I have talked about for so long now, which is that there is this group of ultra-conservative, anti-spending fiscal hawks in the House Republican Conference who feel that they have been again and again let down by House Republican leadership.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What happened during the electoral vote certification ceremony?
1:02–2:13
2
How did Kamala Harris oversee her own electoral loss?
2:13–6:49
3
What challenges does Mike Johnson face as Speaker of the House?
6:49–7:41
4
Why are House Republicans divided over government spending?
7:41–14:38
5
How did Trump influence the Speaker election?
14:38–19:07
6
What demands did the House Freedom Caucus make?
19:07–21:07
7
What are the implications of fiscal responsibility for the Republican agenda?
21:07–31:02