Biden secures win over Trump in electoral college

Members of the electoral college convened in state capitals throughout the country Monday to formally vote for Biden. After the gatherings, Biden plans to address the nation and say, "The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing - not even a pandemic - or an abuse of power - can extinguish that flame," according to excerpts of his speech.

Trump has planned no public events but continues to tweet grievances about the election, which he claimed Sunday is "under protest."

Based on the results of the Nov. 3 general election, Biden is set to have 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232 by the end of the day. To win the White House, a candidate needs 270 of the 538 total electoral votes.

The votes are cast by individual electors, who are typically leaders and loyalists of the political party that won the state's popular vote. Their ballots will be formally counted during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.

A top Senate Republican on Monday warned members of his party not to challenge the electoral college results when both chambers of Congress meet next month to officially tally them.

"I think that would be a bad mistake," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters at the Capitol on Monday afternoon when asked about a possible GOP effort to object to the results.

"I think there comes a time when you have to realize that despite your best efforts, you've been unsuccessful. That's sort of the nature of these elections," Cornyn said. He added: "I just hope they realize that it would be futile and it's unnecessary."

At least one Trump ally, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., has suggested that he will try to use an 1880s law that allows members of Congress to challenge a state's results during the Jan. 6 tally and make the whole Congress vote on whether to accept the results.

To do so, however, one senator would have to join in Brooks's effort. No senator has publicly declared that they would, though Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have reportedly declined to rule it out.

Cornyn also on Monday inched closer to calling Biden "president-elect," telling reporters that the title is warranted "subject to whatever additional litigation is ongoing." But he declined to call on other Republicans to use the term, saying, "I'll leave that up to each individual."

One such lawmaker left his party on Monday.

Rep. Paul Mitchell, a second-term Michigan Republican who is retiring from Congress, announced Monday that he is leaving the Republican Party and will become an independent in protest of the GOP's embrace of Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In a letter to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Mitchell delivered a rebuke of Trump's actions, declaring that it is "unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote."

He also criticized his party's leaders for supporting efforts to overturn the vote and promoting the baseless claim that the election was rife with fraud.

"If Republican leaders collectively sit back and tolerate unfounded conspiracy theories and 'stop the steal' rallies without speaking out for our electoral process . . . our nation will be damaged," Mitchell said in the letter, which was first reported by CNN.

Mitchell, the sophomore representative to the GOP House leadership, announced last year that he would not run for reelection in 2020, voicing frustration that "rhetoric overwhelms policy" in Washington. He was among the first Republican lawmakers to criticize Trump for his racist tweets aimed at four liberal minority congresswomen known as "the squad."

In his letter, Mitchell said Republican leaders' actions risk causing "long-term harm to our democracy."

"As elected members of Congress, we take an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States,' not to preserve and protect the political interests of any individual, be it the president or anyone else, to the detriment of our cherished nation," he said. "As a result, I am writing to advise you both that I am withdrawing from my engagement and association with the Republican Party at both the national and state level."

He added: "I am also requesting that the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives change my party affiliation to Independent for the remainder of my term in office. While admittedly symbolic, we all know that symbols matter."

Meanwhile, in a prime-time address Monday night, Biden is planning to deliver another victory speech, speaking to the nation after the electoral college has reaffirmed his presidential victory, while Trump continues to falsely claim the results are in doubt.

Biden's remarks are intended to unify, with direct appeals to Trump supporters, while also proclaiming that American democracy has worked despite repeated attempts to subvert it.

"If anyone didn't know it before, we know it now," Biden plans to say, according to early excerpts of the speech. "What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: Democracy. The right to be heard. To have your vote counted. To choose the leaders of this nation. To govern ourselves."

In remarks that appear clearly aimed at Trump, the president-elect also implicitly rejects Trump's attempts to challenge the results of the election.

"In America, politicians don't take power - the people grant it to them," Biden plans to say. "The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing - not even a pandemic or an abuse of power - can extinguish that flame."

Even as Trump has refused to concede and pledged to continue fighting the election results despite few avenues left to him, Biden plans to call for the country to move on.

"In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed," he plans to say. "We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And so, now it is time to turn the page. To unite. To heal."

Biden has spent the past several weeks forming his Cabinet and preparing to take the oath of office on Jan. 20. Just as he did in his election victory speech more than five weeks ago, the incoming president plans to speak to Trump's large number of supporters, many of whom view Biden as an illegitimate president-elect.

"I will work just as hard for those of you who didn't vote for me as I will for those who did," Biden plans to say, before turning toward the coronavirus pandemic and the plan to vaccinate millions of Americans.

"There is urgent work in front of all of us," his remarks continue. "Getting the pandemic under control to getting the nation vaccinated against this virus: delivering immediate economic help so badly needed by so many Americans who are hurting today and then building our economy back better than ever."