Three out of four Mississippi’s U.S. Representatives voted to challenge electoral college votes in the 2020 presidential election.

Michael Guest, Trent Kelly, and Steven Palazzo sided with fellow colleagues who opposed results from Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Republican Congressman Michael Guest voted not to certify the Electoral College votes from the states of Arizona and Pennsylvania. Congressman Guest released the following statement:

“Yesterday, we saw protestors enter the United States Capitol and attempt to disrupt Congress as both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate were debating the certification of votes to the Electoral College. I join many of my colleagues in strongly condemning these actions, and I fully support the efforts of law enforcement to bring to justice those who committed acts of violence or destruction.

It is a responsibility of the United States Congress to defend the most important right of American citizens in the electoral process, the sacred right to vote.

In a joint session of Congress, objections were made to the certification of Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s presidential election results. The United States Constitution gives state legislatures the exclusive jurisdiction to determine how elections will be conducted, commonly referred to as the Electors Clause. Simply put, these states failed to conduct elections that followed the requirements set up by their state legislatures and outlined in our Constitution.

Due to these violations, I voted to contest the election results of both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Throughout this election process, many concerns have been raised regarding the legitimacy of our elections. We, as a nation, must commit ourselves to addressing these concerns to ensure that the legitimacy of future elections is secured and that faith is restored to our electoral process.”

Republican Congressman Steven Palazzo said on Wednesday, Jan. 3, that he could not vote to certify the election results because he does not trust the process.

“I cannot vote to certify the results of an election in certain states that millions of Americans and I do not wholeheartedly trust. States cannot bypass their legislature to alter election processes, nor can they violate the laws already in place to safeguard the election. It’s unacceptable to have ballots accepted after statute allows, those ballots should be deemed fraudulent or void.

I stand with millions of Americans who do not approve or accept the submission made by the electoral college until a complete and thorough investigation of all evidence has been conducted.

I cannot idly stand by and watch Mississippi be disenfranchised while other states knowingly violated their Constitution and side-stepped their legislatures in the 2020 election. I am committed to ensuring that all Americans are confident and trust the outcome of our election, it’s the bedrock of our democracy.”

Democrat Congressman Bennie Thompson is the only Mississippi U.S. Representative that voted to certify the results of the presidential election. He sent out this tweet just hours before the violent protests erupted.

Thompson released the following statement:

“The events of (Wednesday) are the inevitable result of the tyrannical and idiotic leadership of Donald Trump. It is domestic terrorism and armed insurrection. This possibly would not have happened if Senate Republicans stepped up to the plate and removed their despicable leader. He needs to just leave and never come back. Trump fed this monster with his vile and dangerous talk. As a country, it is time to accept that Joe Biden will be the 46th President of the United States of America and move on.”