Georgia's Kelly Loeffler says she will be 13th senator to object to Biden's victory being certified

Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler is the latest Republican vowing to object to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, a major political gambit on the eve of her runoff election.

Congress is set to count and certify the Electoral College vote on Wednesday, another benchmark on the path towards Biden’s inauguration.

Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, however, are leading the charge in objecting to certification, with at least a dozen senators now involved. 

Loeffler, who is facing a tight run-off on Tuesday, announced that she is joining the rogue group during a campaign event on Monday night, where she appeared on stage alongside President Donald Trump. 

‘On January 6 I will object to the Electoral College vote,’ the senator said, eliciting a chorus of cheers from the crowd.  

‘This president fought for us, we’re fighting for him. He put America first, he put the American worker first. He stood with our men and women in law enforcement. He restored our military.’

Loeffler then turned her attention to her ‘radical liberal’ challenger in tomorrow’s election, Democrat Raphael Warnock.

‘He attacked our police, our military. He spoke out against Israel, Evangelicals, small businesses,’ she said of Warnock. 

‘Georgia, we have to hold the line. You have to get out and vote tomorrow. We are the firewall to socialism. We have to get it done. I love you guys, thank you!’   

Loeffler first signaled her intention to object to the Electoral College results on Fox News on Monday evening, saying: ‘The American people deserve a platform in Congress, permitted under the Constitution, to have election issues presented so that they can be addressed. 

‘That’s why, on January 6th, I will vote to give President Trump and the American people the fair hearing they deserve and support the objection to the Electoral College certification process.’

Loeffler is set to object to the results of the count in Georgia, though she may also contest the results in other states.

‘We must restore trust, confidence and integrity in our election system,’ she said. 

Loeffler will be in a position to contest the presidential election results regardless of whether she defeats Warnock, as they are set to be certified before she would have to depart the Senate if the Democrat should win. 

Georgia is set to head to the polls in two runoffs on Tuesday, with Loeffler and Warnock competing in one and Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue competing in the others.

Control of the Senate rests in the hands of the runoffs, with a 50-50 split of the body a possibility if Ossoff and Warnock are both victorious.

Ties in Senate votes are broken by the Vice President, who will be Kamala Harris so long as the election results are certified.

Hawley was the first to confirm he would object to the certification of the election results.

Since then, Cruz has jumped on board, bringing a number of senators with him and further dividing the Republican Party.

Cruz was joined by Senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, along with Cynthia Lummis, Tommy Tuberville, Bill Hagerty, and Roger Marshall, all of whom will be sworn in as senators on Sunday in the new Congress.

Loeffler is not set to join Cruz’s faction of dissenters, instead going out to contest the election on her own grounds.

Fox News also reports that at least 100 GOP members of the House of Representatives will be objecting to the results in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada.

Loeffler’s decision to contest the results in Georgia come on the heels of the latest scandal involving the aftermath of the presidential election in that state.

This weekend, the Washington Post released audio revealing Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘find’ votes to increase his total by 11,000 in the state.

‘All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,’ Trump said during the call. ‘Because we won the state.’

Raffensperger and his lawyer repeatedly pushed back against Trump’s claims during the call.

Trump reportedly tried to talk to Raffensperger on at least 18 other occasions prior to the call on Saturday.

Georgia has certified the presidential election results in the state, drawing Trump’s ire against both Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp.

In addition to Loeffler’s stance, her de facto running mate Perdue revealed support of the plan to contest the election results, although his term in the Senate technically ended over the weekend, leaving him without an ability to join the faction.

Perdue tweeted on Monday night, ‘I urge my colleagues to object. I stand with @realDonaldTrump. #GASen #gapol.’

Cruz and his faction are asking for an emergency 10-day audit of the election results by a commission.

While the list of those planning to object to the results seems to grow by the day, there is very little chance they will affect the outcome of the election.

For objections to succeed, they need support from both chambers of Congress, a near-impossibility with Democrats controlling the House of Representatives.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Loeffler has aligned with Trump on nearly every piece of legislation during her Senate term, only disagreeing on the National Defense Authorization Act last month.

This week, she also came out in support of Trump’s hope of getting $2,000 stimulus payments to the American people according to Politico.

Donald Trump is set to stage a last-minute rally in Georgia on Monday evening.