Rep. Lee Zeldin voted against certifying presidential election results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania, the two states that were subject to objections supported by members of both the House and Senate.
Both votes were taken by the House of Representatives in the early morning hours Wednesday, following a long recess in proceedings Tuesday caused by pro-Trump rioters in the Capitol.
A large majority of House Republicans voted against certifying the results in the two states that came to a vote. No Democrat voted against certification.
Zeldin was one of 121 Republican members of the House who voted against certifying Arizona’s results. He participated in the House debate on the Arizona results.
He was one of 138 Republican members who voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s results.
Long Island’s other Republican congressman, freshman Andrew Gabarino (NY02) voted to certify the results in both states.
Zeldin supported objections to certifying the results of Georgia and Wisconsin, but only Arizona and Pennsylvania were put to a vote because the other states lacked objectors in the Senate.
President Donald Trump asserted voting fraud and irregularities in the swing states won by President-elect Joe Biden. The Trump campaign and Trump supporters brought a series unsuccessful legal challenges to the results of the election in those states. Arizona, He also publicly lobbied Congress to deny certification of the results in those states during the constitutionally mandated counting of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6.
The President urged supporters to attend a “Save America” rally in Washington, D.C. on the day of the count and yesterday spoke for more than an hour to thousands of supporters gathered in the Ellipse park. After airing his grievances about the election he claims was stolen by Democrats and “weak” Republicans, Trump urged the crowd to go to the Capitol, where Congress, in a joint session, was beginning to count and certify the Electoral College ballots.
The Trump crowd stormed the Capitol, breaching barricades, overwhelming Capitol Police, breaking doors and windows and entering the building as lawmakers met in both chambers. The sessions were cut short as the mob could be heard in the corridors. The lawmakers were evacuated and staff members and reporters barricaded themselves in offices. The chaotic scenes were broadcast live on television.
By the time it was over, four people were dead. A 35-year-old Trump supporter was fatally shot as she climbed through a window to enter the building. Three other people died from what officials described as medical emergencies. Scores of police officers were injured, some seriously. Video footage from inside the Capitol today showed shattered window glass, broken doors, overturned and broken furniture, and files and papers scattered across office floors.
Police, assisted by National Guard units, cleared the building and by about 9 p.m., lawmakers and staff members were able to return.
The House and Senate resumed debate that had been cut short earlier in the day on the Arizona objections. Rep. Lee Zeldin made a statement he said on Twitter was “in support of the Republic.”
In defense of the republic pic.twitter.com/SwdzdA3igM— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 7, 2021
“Many of my constituents have been outraged and demanding that I voiced their objections here today,” Zeldin said. “This debate is necessary because rogue election officials, secretaries of state and courts circumvented state election laws,” he said.
“Congress has the duty to defend the constitution and any powers of state legislatures that were usurped.”
In his remarks, Zeldin, a loyal defender of and advocate for the President, jabbed at Congressional Democrats too.
“Over the past four years, Democrats boycotted President Trump’s inauguration and State of the Union addresses, pushed the Trump Russia collusion conspiracies and investigations and knowingly lied about it, voted to impeach the President before even knowing what to impeach him for, and then actually passed the Articles of Impeachment before Senate Democrats voted to remove him from office. Today’s debate is necessary, especially because of the insistence that everything President Trump and his supporters say about the 2020 election is evidence-free. It’s simply not true,” he said.
The objections to both states’ results had only a handful of supporters in the Senate.
After four hours of debate in both chambers, with the first two-hour session interrupted by the tumult of the afternoon and early evening, the joint session of Congress reconvened and completed its count shortly before 4 a.m. today, certifying the election for President-elect Biden.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Rep. Zeldin supported objections to the election results of Michigan and Nevada.
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