Sen. James Lankford apologized for questioning the Electoral College vote and planning to object to certifying Arizona’s electoral votes.
Ahead of Congress’s joint session to count the Electoral College votes from each state, the Oklahoma Republican was among a group of 11 Republican senators and more than 100 in the House who said they would object to certifying Arizona’s 11 electoral votes.
“When I announced my support for an Electoral Commission to spend 10 days auditing the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, it was never my intention to disenfranchise any voter or state,” Lankford wrote in a letter obtained by Tulsa World. “It was my intention to resolve any outstanding questions before the inauguration on January 20.”
But after pro-Trump protesters stormed Capitol Hill in an attack that left five dead, several senators, including Lankford and outgoing Sen. Kelly Loeffler, recanted their support for the measure and voted to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. As a result of the attack, the House on Wednesday voted to impeach President Trump a second time on charges that he incited an insurrection.
“My action of asking for more election information caused a firestorm of suspicion among many of my friends, particularly in Black communities around the state,” wrote Lankford, who is up for reelection in 2022. “I was completely blindsided, but I also found a blind spot. What I did not realize was all of the national conversation about states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, was seen as casting doubt on the validity of votes coming out of predominantly Black communities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit.”
He added: “After decades of fighting for voting rights, many Black friends in Oklahoma saw this as a direct attack on their right to vote. I can assure you, my intent to give a voice to Oklahomans who had questions was never also an intent to diminish the voice of any Black American.”
Lankford has made efforts to be more involved with black Tulsans, particularly in the historic Greenwood District, where nearly 100 years ago, “the worst race massacre in our nation’s history” took place, killing thousands of black people and destroying their homes and livelihoods. In 2017, Lankford helped organize the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission to acknowledge the painful history and commemorate those who died.
“I should have recognized how what I said and what I did could be interpreted by many of you,” Lankford concluded. “I deeply regret my blindness to that perception, and for that I am sorry.”
