Rand Paul Calls Election Overturn Effort a ‘Big Mistake,’ Suggests Objections Will Be Narrowed to One Vote

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) condemned the effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat in the wake of violence on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The senator suggested that his fellow Republicans might reduce the scope of their attempts to object to the certification in light of the chaos.

Paul was thought by some to be a wild card on whether he’d join the GOP’s objection to the Electoral College certification, but he announced his opposition to the endeavor while in security lockdown:

Such a vote would be to overturn everything held dear by those of us who support the rights of states in this great system of federalism bequeathed to us by our founders.

The electoral college was created to devolve the power of selecting presidential electors to the states.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 6, 2021

Later, Paul gave an interview to Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, and he condemned the effort to throw out the Electoral College as an “absurdity” and an affront to states’ rights.

Can you imagine what would happen to this country if every four years we have Congress overturning an election? It would be chaos. That’s what you saw today: chaos and anarchy. And we have to stop it. People need know that this not the way that you try to preserve your country or make your country better.

Paul further described the effort by GOP senators as a “big mistake” since “it destroys the Electoral College to think that Congress would overturn it.” He also warned that the Republican Party has relied on the Electoral College for decades in order to win elections, and he panned the “disingenuousness” of his fellow conservatives calling to object.

The vote we will take — and we’re gonna take it in about an hour — and I think it has been condensed to one vote. I don’t think they will appeal all the states. I think the events of the day have chastened them somewhat, but they’re not protesting. They voting to overturn the election. And as much as I don’t like the outcome, and I think that the states could have done a better job…You can’t vote to overturn the election. They keep telling us ‘we are not voting to overturn the election, we’re voting to protest the election.’ That’s not what the vote is…

Watch above, via Fox News.