WASHINGTON—The U.S. Congress on Jan. 6 certified President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory in the 2024 election, marking the official final step to guarantee Trump’s position as the incoming commander-in-chief.
Following in the footsteps of Al Gore and Walter Mondale, Vice President Kamala Harris oversaw the certification of her own election loss to Trump. The process confirmed that Trump received 312 electoral votes while Harris received 226.
The certification was largely uneventful, with Democrats raising no challenges to any of Trump’s electoral wins.
Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, supervised the joint session of Congress at 1 p.m. ET as it certified Trump’s win.
“This duty is a sacred obligation, one I will uphold, guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution, and my unwavering faith in the American people,” Harris said ahead of the certification.
Trump, meanwhile, emphasized the importance of the certification.
“Congress certifies our great election victory today—a big moment in history. MAGA!” Trump wrote in all caps on his Truth Social platform earlier in the day.
The timing was in accordance with the Electoral Count Act, which sets the date, time, and specific procedures behind the certification process.
Each state’s slate of electors was read off in alphabetical order and approved by the Congress, gathered as is custom for joint sessions in the House chamber.
While there were objections in 2001, 2005, 2017, and 2021, no challenges were made to the 2024 election during the certification—one of the few times in this millennium that’s been the case.
The Jan. 6 certification of the election results is a constitutional duty in accordance with Article II of the Constitution, which lays out congressional certification of results as the final step in confirming the next president. This step is necessary to ensure that a candidate received the minimum of 270 electoral votes, as a separate process in Congress is required in cases where that margin isn’t passed.
In the 2021 certification process, some members of the House and Senate objected to results from battleground states where they believed election fraud was committed.
Under a 2022 law that reformed the Electoral Count Act, the threshold for instituting a challenge is one-fifth of the House, or 87 members, and one-fifth of the Senate, or 20 members, signing off on the objection. Previously, challenges required just one member from both chambers.
The objection can only be made in the name of states unlawfully certifying their election results as opposed to a basis of electoral fraud, thereby avoiding a repeat of 2021 and other past election certifications.
When there is an objection, Senate and House members go to their respective chambers and debate the challenge.
Harris is the first presidential candidate in more than 20 years to certify her own defeat for the presidency. This last occurred in 2001, when Gore presided over his highly contested loss to President George W. Bush.
During the Jan. 6, 2021, certification process, Trump called on his supporters to go “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol to protest as the certification was overseen by then-Vice President Mike Pence, who affirmed President Joe Biden’s win despite Trump calling for Pence to act otherwise.
Due in part to limited law enforcement at the Capitol, a breakdown of order occurred and hundreds of protesters entered the Capitol; while most were peaceful and entered through main entrances, a minority were accused of violent crimes—assaulting police officers, carrying lethal weapons, and breaking Capitol windows.
The disorder resulted in the deaths of several Trump supporters, including Rosanne Boyland and Navy veteran Ashli Babbitt. No Capitol Police officers were killed in direct connection to the events of the day.
The incident prompted Congress to pause the certification of the 2020 results, which consisted of challenges from Republican House and Senate members over the results in states including Arizona and Pennsylvania. Pence and congressional members were hidden for their own protection.
In the morning hours of Jan. 7, 2021, Congress certified Biden’s win.
Since that day, there have been more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Capitol breach, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Of that number, about 750 people have been sentenced on charges ranging from trespassing to seditious conspiracy.
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is serving a 22-year sentence for his role in the attack—the longest of the Jan. 6 sentences—though he was not at the Capitol as he was ordered to stay away from Washington that day due to allegedly committing an unrelated crime.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was “proud” of the DOJ’s work to round up those involved in the breach. Trump, meanwhile, has said he would pardon at least some of the Jan. 6 defendants.
Biden, meanwhile, released an op-ed on the morning of Jan. 6 critical of what he described as efforts by Trump to “rewrite” history concerning Jan. 6, 2021, and was critical of Trump’s plan to pardon many of those charged in connection to the event.
This time around, there was a heavy security presence around the Capitol with large-scale fencing around the complex and officers from multiple law enforcement agencies patrolling the area amid snowy conditions.
By Jackson Richman and Joseph Lord
