DeWine Opposes Effort By Some Congressional Republicans To Block Biden's Win

Ohio’s Gov. Mike DeWine and Sen. Rob Portman both say they oppose the effort by a contingent of Republicans to object to certification of the electoral college results on Wednesday, as part of an unprecedented and ill-fated attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election.

It’s expected at least four Ohio Congressmen will object, including Reps. Jim Jordan, Bill Johnson, Warren Davidson, and Bob Gibbs.

In an interview, DeWine said that states run elections and all 50 have certified their results, and therefore he opposes this effort.

“So unless somebody has some new shocking revelation or evidence, we need to move forward, not only have the state certify their elections, but there's been ample opportunity for anyone who saw a problem to go into court," DeWine said. "Our courts function. The people have had the opportunity in many cases have gone into court and none of this has been overturned.”

This is something of a departure for DeWine, who on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper this weekend avoided criticizing the plan.

Trump won Ohio by just over eight points, about the same as his margin of victory in 2016. The Ohio vote has not been contested, although Ohio does use Dominion voting machines, which Trump has criticized in other states that Biden won.

On Monday, Portman tweeted out a statement saying he'd taken an oath "swearing to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I plan on honoring that oath by supporting the state certifications and the will of the people."

Portman, along with DeWine and Ohio's 12 Republican members of Congress, served as an honorary co-chair for Trump's Ohio re-election campaign.

DeWine did not directly criticize the Republicans announced they'll join in the objection. Late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Texas lawsuit joined by 126 House Republicans that aimed to toss out the results of the votes in four states Biden won.

DeWine also didn’t address the question of whether voters’ faith has been eroded because of misinformation by President Trump and others, but he says the system worked. The governor said that, while no election is perfect, there’s no evidence that the results should be changed.

The governor also said he supports a bipartisan commission suggested by Portman to look into election-related problems, though he said "that is not in relationship to this election, but in relationship to how do we gain people's confidence in our election system."