In his opposition to the counting of electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested Congress "follow the precedent" of another disputed election.
But his idea was immediately shot down by a bipartisan group of senators, in the wake of violence that claimed the lives of four people at the Capitol building, reported Yahoo News.
In 1876, Democratic Governor Samuel Tilden of New York won the popular vote but not the electoral vote. In the South, which was still under Republican Party and military control following the Civil War, four states sent duplicate, contested electoral votes to Congress, hoping they would be certified for the Republican candidate, Hayes, instead of the Democrat electors pledged to Tilden.
After months of wrangling, Congress set up a commission to decide who would get the electoral votes. (Luckily, inaugurations were held in March in those days.)
Eventually the commission was composed of eight Republican members and seven Democrat members, who voted along party lines to elect Rutherford B. Hayes president. The move led to Hayes being labeled "Old 8 to 7" and many in his day viewed his presidency as illegitimate as a result.
To prevent another civil war, Hayes agreed to pull US troops out of the South, marking an end to Reconstruction and the beginning of the Jim Crow laws.
Cruz suggested today's Congress follow 1877's lead, at least in regards to the commission.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) attacked Cruz's suggestion, questioning why Cruz wasn't also disputing the elections of dozens of House members elected on the same ballots.
Despite supporting and campaigning for Trump, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) a Republican from a swing state Biden won, also opposed to the idea of a commission, questioning just how much good it would do for the Electoral College count.
In recent days, Cruz has taken the lead role in defending the president and in opposing the electoral vote count that elected Biden and Harris.
While a civil war is not imminent at this point over this election oh, the political violence of Wednesday has had an effect on the political climate.
Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who lost her bid for re-election in the runoff Tuesday, was originally going to oppose certification of several States electoral vote counts for Joe Biden. abruptly changed her mind following the political scuffles in the Capitol building and said she would not contest them.
Senators planned to meet today to finish the certification of the electoral votes that would elect Joe Biden president and Kamala Harris vice president.
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