{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-the-senate-floor-murphy-blasts-republicans-continued-efforts-to-overturn-2020-election-results-and-warns-of-the-dangerous-consequences-for-our-democracy", "On The Senate Floor, Murphy Blasts Republicans Continued Efforts To Overturn 2020 Election Results And Warns Of The Dangerous Consequences For Our DemocracyRead More", "2020-12-11", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONU.S.\r\nSenator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Friday took to the U.S. Senate Floor to\r\nblast Republicans' continued efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election\r\nresults and warn of the dangerous consequences for our democracy. You\r\ncannot, at the same time, love America and hate democracy. But as we speak, a\r\nwhole lot of flag-waving Republicans are nakedly trying to invalidate millions\r\nof legal votes because that is the only way that they can make Donald Trump\r\npresident again. It is the only way they can make Donald Trump president again\r\nbecause he didn't win. Our democracy, the citizens of this country, chose Joe\r\nBiden to be President of the United States. He won the popular vote in a\r\nlandslide and he won the electoral college by a substantial margin, said Murphy. Murphy\r\ncontinued: [T]here are way too many high profile Republicans who march\r\naround the world giving speeches about the importance of protecting democracy\r\nwho are awfully silent when the attempted overthrow is happening in their own\r\ncountry. Nobody can stay silent right now. It is\r\ntrue this effort to overthrow the 2020 election is not going to bear fruit. And\r\nso it is tempting to just work on the other things and to ignore this lawsuit\r\nand these attempts because this time it won't be successful. But all of this\r\neffort, supported by so many mainstream Republicans, it's setting a precedent,\r\nand it's creating conditions that could easily overthrow the next election. And\r\nif the Republican Party just allows for this assault on the 2020 election to\r\ncontinue, no matter whether it ultimately is successful, then by 2022 or 2024,\r\nI'm telling you, it might be too late to save our democracy, Murphy concluded. This week,\r\nahead of the upcoming Electoral College meeting, Texas Attorney General Ken\r\nPaxton filed a lawsuit to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.\r\nAttorneys General in 17 other states and 106 Republican members of Congress\r\nsupport this dangerous lawsuit. A full\r\ntranscript of Murphy's remarks can be found below: Colleagues,\r\nwe're in the middle of a whole bunch of really important debates right now\r\nabout the National Defense Authorization Act, trying to avoid a shutdown by the\r\nend of the day, and, of course, trying to find a path forward to authorize\r\nfunding to continue to combat this pandemic. But it is worth noting today that\r\nan effort to overturn the 2020 election continues and, in many ways, is picking\r\nup steam. And we need to talk about the consequences for the nation. Democracies\r\nare really fragile things. Ours only continues because we make choices so that\r\nit can remain. Our government really isn't the piece of paper upon which the\r\nConstitution is written, our government, where voters, citizens, not kings, or\r\nmonarchs or oligarchs decide who governs, it's made possible by a series of\r\ndecisions that we make every single day to put the rule of law ahead of our own\r\npolitical power, or the position of our political party. That is\r\nthe history of America. Our decision, the democracy, comes first. Not the\r\nperpetuation of our own political power. Right now, the most serious attempt to\r\noverthrow our democracy in the history of this country is underway. Those who\r\nare pushing to make Donald Trump president for a second term, no matter the\r\noutcome of the election, are engaged in a treachery against their nation. You\r\ncannot, at the same time, love America and hate democracy. But as we speak, a\r\nwhole lot of flag-waving Republicans are nakedly trying to invalidate millions\r\nof legal votes because that is the only way that they can make Donald Trump\r\npresident again. It is the only way they can make Donald Trump president again\r\nbecause he didn't win. Our democracy, the citizens of this country, chose Joe\r\nBiden to be President of the United States. He won the popular vote in a\r\nlandslide and he won the electoral college by a substantial margin. But now,\r\nRepublicans have decided, not all Republicans, but far too many, have decided\r\nthat if democracy can't keep Trump in power, then democracy ceases to have any\r\nreal purpose. Because to Republicans who are supporting these continued efforts\r\nto invalidate the election, their loyalty is to Donald Trump. Not to the nation\r\nor our system of government, their number one goal is to keep Trump in power.\r\nAnd if that means throwing out the election, turning America into something\r\nother than a democracy in which the voters get to choose their leaders, then so\r\nbe it. Here's\r\nthe latest. This lawsuit is supported by 106 House Republicans. That's more\r\nthan halfof the\r\nRepublicans who serve in the House of Representatives. It is supported,\r\napparently, by many Senate Republicans as well. This lawsuit is an attempt to\r\noverthrow democracy. And you can laugh at it, you can scoff at it, you can\r\nsuggest that it has no chance to prevail if it reaches the nine supreme court\r\njustices, but let's be clear about what it argues. And let's be clear about the\r\nconsequences for so many elected officials at the highest level of American\r\ngovernment supporting this lawsuit. What it\r\nargues is that the votes in four states, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and\r\nMichigan should be thrown out because Trump didn't win. And it asks for the\r\nstate legislatures controlled by Republicans to appoint electors instead. Now\r\nthere are a bunch of vague, unsourced claims about voter fraud in this lawsuit,\r\nbut there's not a shred of evidence for these claims. And all of the individual\r\nlawsuits trying to allege voter fraud, trying to create contests about how laws\r\nwere modified regarding voting in these states have all lost. Importantly,\r\nthe lawsuit doesn't ask for another canvas or another count. It just asks for\r\nthe votes in these states to be disregarded. And for Republican politicians in\r\nthese states to make the choice instead. Now already in Pennsylvania, the\r\nstate's legislature's Republican leadership has expressed support for\r\nappointing electors that would choose Donald Trump. Let me say that again. This\r\nlawsuit says that in Pennsylvania, the state legislature should choose the\r\nelectors, not the people. And in Pennsylvania, the leadership of the Republican\r\nParty in the legislature has expressed support for appointing electors that\r\nwill choose Donald Trump instead of Joe Biden despite the fact that Joe Biden\r\nwon the state of Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. 80,000 votes. This isn't 500\r\nvotes like Florida in 2000. 80,000 votes. The\r\nrequest of this lawsuit is clear. Throw out the votes in these four states that\r\nJoe Biden won and just give the election to Donald Trump instead. Now some of\r\nmy Republican Senate colleagues, they send out pretty mealy mouthed statements\r\nsupporting the general right to count every legal vote and to contest illegal\r\nvotes. But that's not what this lawsuit is about. It just asked for the whole\r\nvote to be thrown out. It asks for every vote in these states to be\r\ndisregarded. Other\r\nRepublicans who haven't signed on to this suit suggest that it won't succeed in\r\nthe Supreme Court, it's a sideshow, so why really care? Well, we have to care.\r\nThe majority of Republican members of Congress believe that Donald Trump should\r\nbe named president again despite the fact that he lost, and lost by a lot. It\r\nwasn't close in the popular vote or the Electoral College. We should care\r\nbecause this attempt to overthrow democracy, it won't be successful this time,\r\nJoe Biden is going to be president, but it plainly shows us the direction that\r\nthe Republican Party is heading. And they control governments in a lot of\r\nreally important states and jurisdictions. The\r\nmajority of Republicans in the House of Representatives apparently believe that\r\nif a Democrat wins an election, it's illegitimate by definition. There is no\r\nevidence of fraud or stolen votes or vote rigging in the 2020 election. You can\r\nbe mad about the fact that states allow for mail-in voting, but Republican and\r\nDemocratic states allow for it. You can be angry that the majority of those\r\nvotes this year were cast in favor of Joe Biden in many of these states, but in\r\nprevious years, the majority of mail and votes have been favoring Republicans. But no\r\nmatter the lack of evidence about voter fraud, Republicans, including the\r\nPresident, have just come to the conclusion that Democrats must have cheated\r\nbecause Democrats are evil, and lots of people show up to Trump rallies and\r\nthere's just no way that all those people could have voted for Joe Biden\r\nbecause Fox News and Newsmax and RT, they tell us that Trump is just so\r\npopular. Now this\r\nmindset won't win out this time. Joe Biden's going to be president. But what\r\nabout next time? What if the next presidential election is closer? What if 2024\r\ncomes down to just one state? It's a lot easier to steal one state. What if\r\nthese radical anti-Democrats get control of more secretary of state offices or\r\nelection boards and there's a close race for governor in 2022, or the US\r\nSenate, and these same people who support the Texas lawsuit decide again, that\r\nthere's no way a Democrat could have won our state and so, by definition, it's\r\ngot to be fraudulent despite the lack of evidence. So let's just throw out the\r\nresult and choose aRepublican. I know\r\nthat this kind of sounds far-fetched, but this is exactly what this lawsuit is\r\nasking for. It is asking for the vote to be thrown out in four states, Donald\r\nTrump to be named president, regardless of the fact that he lost, with no\r\nevidence of any voter fraud or illegal behavior. And there's the majority of\r\nthe US House of Representatives Republican caucus who supports this. So it\r\nstands to reason that this one all of a sudden stopped being their position two\r\nyears ago, and four years ago. If this\r\nhappens and the voters' will is thrown out, not just in a presidential\r\nelection, but in a governor's race or a US Senate race or a congressional race,\r\nthen our country is no longer a democracy. If that happens, the American\r\nexperiment is done. It's over. And that's why this moment is so frightening, no\r\nmatter the fact that it's not going to be successful in an attempt to keep\r\nDonald Trump barricaded in the White House. That's why more Republicans than\r\njust a handful in this country need to be standing up to this lawsuit and this\r\nclaim that the votes should be thrown out. Because\r\nyou have a majority of Republicans in this country who believe that Joe Biden\r\nwon the election fraudulently when there's no evidence that that happened. And\r\nthat belief as it festers and it grows, this idea that if Democrats win, it has\r\nto be because of fraud, it does eventually lead to the voters' will being\r\noverturned. And that is the end of American democracy. Don't just assume that\r\nthis system is going to be around for another 240 years. This is a miracle that\r\nwe have held this together thus far. It is just a series of choices that we\r\nmake. The\r\nConstitution itself is not strong enough, is not durable enough, without all of\r\nus making a decision that even if we lose an election, even if that means that\r\ntemporarily our political power is lessened, that we accept the result. Because\r\nwhat matters most in this country is what the voters choose, not how it affects\r\nus. It's not enough to just punt here and say the president's got a right to\r\ngo to court, let's just see what happens.' Because when the overthrow of\r\nDemocracy is beginning and you're sitting on the sidelines, you're a\r\ncollaborator. And there\r\nare way too many high profile Republicans who march around the world giving\r\nspeeches about the importance of protecting democracy who are awfully silent\r\nwhen the attempted overthrow is happening in their own country. Nobody can stay\r\nsilent right now. There are\r\na lot of other important things happening in the Senate today. I'm engaged in\r\nthose as well. It is true this effort to overthrow the 2020 election is not\r\ngoing to bear fruit. And so it is tempting to just work on the other things and\r\nto ignore this lawsuit and these attempts because this time it won't be\r\nsuccessful. But all\r\nof this effort, supported by so many mainstream Republicans, it's setting a\r\nprecedent, and it's creating conditions that could easily overthrow the next\r\nelection. And if the Republican Party just allows for this assault on the 2020\r\nelection to continue, no matter whether it ultimately is successful, then by\r\n2022 or 2024, I'm telling you, it might be too late to save our democracy. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-the-senate-floor-murphy-blasts-republicans-continued-efforts-to-overturn-2020-election-results-and-warns-of-the-dangerous-consequences-for-our-democracy"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.378300065174699, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}