Two Democratic members of the Electoral College have launched a campaign to keep President-elect Donald Trump from entering the White House, according to a new report.
Washington’s Bret Chiafolo and Colorado’s Michael Baca hope at least 37 of their GOP colleagues will abandon Trump and force the House into picking the next president instead, Politico said Monday.
{mosads}Politico said the pair’s so-called “Moral Electors” movement has already found one backer in Washington’s Robert Satiacum.
“This is a longshot,” Chiafolo told Politico in a phone interview Monday. “It’s a hail Mary. However, I do see situations where – when we’ve already had two or three [Republican] electors state publicly they didn’t want to vote for Trump. How many of them have real issue with Donald Trump in private?”
Politico said neither Baca nor Chiafolo is seeking the election of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Both vowed they would encourage GOP electors to write-in either Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) or 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney instead.
The House would choose from among the top-three vote getters should enough electors reject Trump’s claim to the White House.
Politico noted the 538 members of the Electoral College are scheduled to gather in their various state capitals and formally vote for president Dec. 19.
Baca and Chiafolo are seeking 37 other electors to halt Trump due to the Republican’s results in the Electoral College vote last week.
Trump claimed 290 electoral votes to Clinton’s 228, and currently leads in Michigan, which awards another 16.
Michigan would boost Trump’s total to 306 electoral votes if all electors there go his way, well past the 270 threshold required for the presidency.
Politico added it could find only one GOP elector on record considering a break with Trump, his party’s nominee.
Texas’s Art Sisneros, a Libertarian activist, on Monday said he remains “undecided” but state party leaders and fellow GOP electors are pressuring him to go with Trump.
Twenty-nine states have laws mandating their electors support the victor of their state’s popular vote, though Politico acknowledged none has ever been challenged or enforced.
Clinton’s loss to Trump remains controversial as the former secretary of State won the national popular vote by less than 1 point over him.