Rep. Ed Perlmutter is among a group of Democrats eyeing challenges. | AP Photo Democratic lawmakers considering challenge to Trump’s Electoral College victory

Several House Democrats are weighing a formal challenge to Donald Trump’s election on Friday, when Congress meets in joint session to certify Trump’s Electoral College victory.

Reps. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Bobby Scott of Virginia, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and Jamie Raskin of Maryland are among a group of Democrats eyeing challenges.


Members have the right to lodge those protests when Congress officially counts the electoral votes on Friday. But for the protests to have any effect on the proceedings, they’ll need to secure the backing of at least one senator, and it’s unclear whether any Senate Democrats are weighing a similar challenge.

Either way, there’s effectively no chance the protests will alter the actual election outcome, given Republican control of Congress. Instead, the effort could give Democrats a new venue to protest Trump’s victory. And if the Democrats can secure a senator’s support, the challenges could delay the certification of Trump’s victory for hours while the House and Senate separately debate the merits of each protested electoral college vote.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters outside the House chamber, said she's undecided so far on the Electoral College challenge.

"We'll see," she said. "I’m just hearing about this now."

"We've been through this before," she added, "with Florida and Gore."

Asked about any brewing challenges to the vote, a chuckling Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn said, "It's a way for some people to have fun." He declined to comment further.

Sources who attended a Democratic whip meeting on Thursday morning said Perlmutter stood up and announced that he’s weighing a challenge. A spokeswoman said Perlmutter is unlikely to contest the Electoral College vote without the support of a senator and emphasized that his goal isn't to stop Trump's election but to highlight Russian interference.

Early Thursday afternoon, Perlmutter's office issued a statement "in advance of the Electoral College vote count" on Russia's involvement.

"This is not about trying to stop Donald Trump from becoming President," he said. "This is about the fact that our liberty, freedom and democracy were compromised by Russia’s intrusion into America’s election. We cannot allow a foreign nation to ever influence our elections because it harms our liberty, freedom and independence. This is bigger than just one election, and for the sake of our democracy, we must remain vigilant."

A spokeswoman for Scott said “he is reviewing” more information before making a decision on a challenge, but he hasn’t committed to filing one.

If the members file a challenge and a senator joins them, it would be just the third such Electoral College challenge since the 19th century. The last came in 2005, when Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) to challenge Ohio’s electoral votes, which had givene George W. Bush his reelection win. Their protest forced an hours-long debate in Congress but ultimately had no impact on the vote and drew rounds of derision from Republican leaders.

The potential Democratic protest would be the continuation of an effort to undermine Trump’s legitimacy as president. Trump won the support of 304 electors last month, a reflection of his popular vote victory in 29 states.

But Democrats have repeatedly highlighted the fact that Hillary Clinton won the overall national popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. Perlmutter, Scott and other lawmakers were encouraged to file challenges by progressive groups who described three grounds to lodge a protest: foreign interference by Russia in the election, voter suppression and a more technical claim that dozens of electors of both parties were ineligible to serve.

Raskin told POLITICO he had heard from various “voter protection” groups urging him to file a challenge and was strongly considering one on voter suppression grounds. But he said he’d push forward only if he sees compelling “evidence of technological tampering, ballot stuffing or the illegal purging of people from the rolls or exclusion of voters from the polls.” He also said he intends to wait until he has assurances of support from at least one senator.

Raskin said claims of foreign interference were less compelling as a rationale to challenge the Electoral College vote. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin undoubtedly polluted our electoral environment, but did he steal the election?” he said. “Even if he stole big chunks of the campaign, can we say that he stole the entire election? It’s tricky.”

Though he acknowledged that Republicans would almost certainly refuse to consider any electoral vote challenges, he said potential challenges would be worth pursuing if a strong case could be made. "Democracy has to have a foundation in the truth,” he said. “I know we are living in what people are calling a post-factual society, but there has to be a basic accounting to the people for how our process works. Strong democracy requires trust and verification whenever possible.”

One of the groups pressing for an Electoral College vote challenge, Unite for America, was also behind unsuccessful efforts to persuade electors to turn on Trump when they cast their votes on Dec. 19. The group is now encouraging lawmakers to disqualify electors on technical grounds. Working with attorneys, the group identified 50 Republican electors who they say were ineligible to cast ballots, some because of residency requirements and others because of state-level restrictions on dual office-holders. Those restrictions would disqualify dozens of state lawmakers and officials who were tapped as electors, they argue.

"Whether it’s Russians hacking our democracy, unprecedented voter suppression, and new evidence of Republican Electors voting illegally, this election is simply illegitimate,” said Ryan Clayton of Americans Take Action, one of the groups pushing the effort to disqualify GOP electors.

But Congress is the ultimate judge of electors’ qualifications and Republicans are extremely unlikely to entertain technical challenges.

Heather Caygle contributed to this report.