US Election:More Republican Lawmakers acknowledge Biden,s victory

By Pranshu Verma(Washington Post)

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. continued to overcome President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results on Friday, as only a few Republican lawmakers started to break ranks and acknowledge Mr. Biden’s electoral victory.

Georgia became the first contested state to certify Mr. Biden’s victory, a move that likely seals the state’s 16 electoral votes for the former vice president, although Mr. Trump could still demand a machine recount.

Georgia’s certification is the first of a series of battlegrounds that could officially declare Mr. Biden the winner in the coming days, with Michigan and Pennsylvania facing a certification deadline on Monday and Nevada on Tuesday.

Though Mr. Biden won Michigan decisively, the outcome of the state’s 16 electoral votes was a source of intense focus on Friday, as top Republican lawmakers from the state visited the White House at the president’s invitation. After the meeting, the lawmakers said that they would “follow the normal process” in certifying the state’s vote tally and honor the electoral outcome, dealing a blow to one of the president’s most brazen attempts to subvert the electoral process.

More Republican lawmakers on Friday also publicly acknowledged Mr. Trump’s loss. Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, referred to Mr. Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris as “president-elect” and “vice president-elect” in an interview on ABC News. Representative Kay Granger, Republican from Texas, said on CNN that she had “great concerns” about Mr. Trump’s efforts to the upend the election, saying, “It’s time to move on.”

And Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee became the most prominent Republican lawmaker to press Mr. Trump to start the transition process, saying on Friday that it looks like Mr. Biden had a “very good chance” of winning. Late Friday night, a spokeswoman for Ms. Blackburn said the senator “misspoke.”

Mr. Biden met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, during the first in-person gathering of the Democratic leaders since the election.

They said the meeting was focused on the need for Congress to pass a coronavirus aid package in the coming weeks, rather than waiting for Mr. Biden to take office in January.