Missouri's U.S. Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Vicky Hartzler, along with 35 other Republican representatives from across the nation, intended to object to electoral votes from several states that supported Joe Biden for president, before the vote was halted Wednesday due to violent protests.
Some Missouri senators and representatives also voiced condemnation Wednesday afternoon of the violent protests in Washington, D.C.
"We will vote to sustain objections to slates of electors submitted by states we believe clearly violated the Constitution in the presidential election of 2020," the legislators said in a joint statement issued Wednesday. "This is our solemn duty, and our position on this threshold legal question has been widely known and published for weeks."
The legislators' statement says they will object to electoral votes in states they believe violated the Constitution in the election, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
"In the four subject states, the legislatures did enact detailed rules and procedures by which those states were to determine their electors," the statement says. "However, as explained in our amicus brief, in the months preceding the 2020 election, those well-established rules and procedures were deliberately changed by a variety of other officials, including governors, secretaries of state, election officials, judges, and private parties."
Luetkemeyer represents Missouri's 3rd Congressional District, which includes much of east-central Missouri, including Jefferson City, stretching into the western suburbs of the St. Louis metro area.
Hartzler represents Missouri's 4th Congressional District, located in the central and western portion of the state.
Sen. Josh Hawley was the first to announce he will object to the certification of Biden's win. Hawley has argued Pennsylvania's 2019 law expanding mail-in voting violated the state's Constitution.
"I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws," he said in a statement. "And I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden. At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections."
The electoral college certification was delayed Wednesday as pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol and at least one person was shot, causing lawmakers to abruptly recess.
"Peaceful protesting is acceptable," Luetkemeyer tweeted. "Violence, lawlessness and attacks on law enforcement are absolutely not."
Hawley's office tweeted a statement condemning the violence.
"Thank you to the brave law enforcement officials who have put their lives on the line," Hawley's statement says. "The violence must end, those who attacked police and broke the law must be prosecuted, and Congress must get back to work and finish its job."
Late Wednesday night, Hawley said he was going forward with his objection. He said he did not support violence but said the Senate should go forward with a legal process that includes his objections.
Hawley said his objections should be debated "peacefully, without violence, without attacks, without bullets." He said he hoped lawmakers would not brush his concerns aside because of the violence earlier Wednesday, including the death of a protester inside the Capitol.
Sen. Roy Blunt tweeted, "The events unfolding at the Capitol are shameful. There is no justification for violence and destruction. It has to stop now. This is not who we are as a nation."
Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner, who opposed the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, tweeted "violent riots we are seeing right now are despicable and have no place in our nation. The President needs to take decisive action immediately to stop this seditious behavior," the Missouri Independent reported.