Despite the attack on the United States Capitol by violent pro-Trump extremists that sent both the Senate and House of Representatives into lockdown and left four people dead in its wake, all five members of Oklahoma's House delegation voted to object to accepting the certified results of the presidential election in Arizona and Pennsylvania, states won by President-elect Joe Biden.
Representatives Markwayne Mullin, Kevin Hern, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas and Stephanie Bice all voted to refuse the will of the voters in those two states, which President Donald Trump lost in his reelection bid. There has been no evidence presented of widespread fraud or other irregular or illegal activity that would have changed the outcome in either state.
Multiple requests for comment to each representative's office on whether they would disavow or denounce the president's lies about the election or his rhetoric leading up to, during or after the attack went without response.
A joint session of Congress convened to formally accept the results of the November election on Wednesday but was abruptly sent into a chaotic recess when mobs of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, apparently managing to loot and trash parts of the complex including the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Despite the obstruction efforts of some Republicans who embraced the false claims of fraud, the two objections failed, and all 538 Electoral College votes were certified by the joint session. Biden won with 306 votes to Trump's 232.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) originally announced plans to object to the election's results, but after the attack withdrew his objection. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said going into the joint session that he would vote to certify all states' results, saying that objecting would be a violation of his oath to uphold the Constitution.
