What Some Conservative Republicans Are Finally Saying About Joe Biden

With enough votes cast in the Electoral College to confirm Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, some ardent supporters of President Trump are finally acknowledging his victory.

On Monday, Electoral College voters formalized the victory for Biden and Kamala Harris. The votes go to Capitol Hill to be counted by Congress on Jan. 6.

“Altogether, Vice President-elect Harris and I earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory,” Biden said. “Three hundred and six electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes Donald Trump and Mike Pence received in 2016. At that time, President Trump called his Electoral College tally a landslide. By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then. And I respectfully suggest they do so now.”

The Associated Press on Nov. 7 had declared Biden the winner of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, essentially clinching the contest for the Democratic nominee.

Since then, Trump has filed a series of legal challenges seeking to overturn the results based on erroneous claims of fraud. Up until now, few of his supporters outside a handful of moderate Republicans have recognized Biden as the next president.

From her Twitter account, Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, said Tuesday that it took courage for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to finally acknowledge Biden’s victory.

Monday evening, Biden said he spoke with a handful of members of the Republican leadership, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ardent Trump supporter.

Graham confirmed he had a 10-minute conversation with the president-elect before he addressed the nation on the results in the Electoral College. Asked by reporters if Biden was indeed president-elect, Graham replied “yeah,” the AP noted.

"Vice President Biden is the president-elect," said Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

Some of the more conservative members of the GOP have yet to weigh in on Monday's vote, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Joni Ernst of Iowa.

On Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas continued with some of Trump’s election-related claims by arguing on Twitter that big technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley had “stacked the deck” for Democrats.

Trump could in theory overturn the elections if there were extraordinary opposition amongst lawmakers verifying state results on Jan. 6.

"It's a very, very narrow path for the president,” Graham said.

Trump has yet to concede. In a tweet Tuesday that was flagged, he maintained that voter fraud was rampant.