WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today released the following statement before voting to count the results of the 2020 Presidential election:

“Today I will vote to accept the results of the December 14 Electoral College vote, which resulted in the election of Joe Biden as President. I am disappointed in the outcome of the 2020 election. I have been privileged to work with President Trump during his successful four-year term, I was glad to earn his endorsement in 2018, and I was honored to serve as a Co-Chairman of his state campaign. 

“However, our campaign lost a close election, and it is time to acknowledge that. The President’s own Attorney General, his head of election security, and a number of Trump-appointed, conservative federal judges all have found that, despite widespread allegations of fraud, there simply was not enough evidence to change the outcome of the election in any state. This is also the conclusion of every Republican Secretary of Defense from the past two decades. As they wrote recently, ‘the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.’

“Congress cannot — and should not — get into the business of deciding the results of our elections. Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress’s power is limited to counting electoral votes duly submitted by the states. Anything further would not be compatible with our Constitution or the conservative principles of limited government that I have sworn to defend.

“I also fear any attempt by Congress to overturn state election results would empower national Democrats to hasten the end of the Electoral College, which preserves a voice for smaller states like Mississippi in our national elections. Without the Electoral College, large, liberal states like New York and California would likely determine the direction of our republic to its detriment.

“I know many of my fellow Mississippians will disagree with my decision, and I share their commitment to making sure our elections are fair. But I must vote according to my conscience, my oath of office, and my understanding of the rule of law. I hope that with the start of a new Congress, we can take steps to restore faith in America’s electoral system.”