Updated at 11:45 a.m.
All but one of North Carolina's Republican delegates to the U.S. House had said publicly that they planned to object to electoral college votes before the chaos that interrupted the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory Wednesday.The breach of the Capitol by pro-Trump extremists did not appear to change any minds among the delegation.
Seven North Carolina Republicans voted to object to the results from Pennsylvania. Reps. Greg Murphy and Virginia Foxx diverged from the block to vote against the objections to Arizona's results.
The five Republican members of North Carolina’s delegation who objected to Biden’s wins in both Arizona and Pennsylvania were Reps. Dan Bishop, Ted Budd, Madison Cawthorn, Richard Hudson and David Rouzer.
Expressing concerns about the precedent objections would set, Rep. Patrick McHenry sided with the Democrats in the chamber on both votes to certify Biden's win.
"Beyond the fact that voting against certification of legally submitted electors would violate the oath I took to our Constitution; I also have serious concerns about the precedent these actions could set were they to succeed," McHenry said in a statement. "While I am proud to have supported President Trump’s agenda and am honored to have worked with him as he accomplished so much, I cannot violate the oath I took. It is my duty to uphold my Constitutional responsibilities."
The Senate rejected both objections by a wide margin; 93-6 for Arizona and 92-7 for Pennsylvania. The House opposed the Arizona objection 303-121 and the Pennsylvania objection 282-138. Members of the House also objected to Biden’s victories in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, but they were not joined by a senator, so there was no debate.
Biden’s victory was certified by Congress just before 4 a.m. Thursday, with Biden winning 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 232.
All Democratic U.S. House members from North Carolina and Republican Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis did not object to any results.
Burr said in a statement that Trump was responsible for the chaos on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, where a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, breached the chambers, clashed with police and forced party leadership to evacuate the building. Police in Washington, D.C. said that one woman was shot and killed and three other adults died after suffering from medical emergencies, according to NPR.
"Let me be clear: these actions are not a defense of this country, but an attack on it," Burr said of the insurrection. "I supported President Trump's legal right to contest the election results through the courts, but the courts have now unanimously and overwhelmingly rejected these suits. No evidence of voter fraud has emerged that would warrant overturning the 2020 election. The President bears responsibility for today's events by promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that have led to this point. It is past time to accept the will of American voters and to allow our nation to move forward."
Yesterday, the Republicans and Democrats in the delegation uniformly condemned the actions of the pro-Trump extremists who stormed the Capitol and praised the capitol police.
"We were having meaningful debate in the House chamber regarding beliefs about the United States Constitution and possible violations of it by certain states. That meaningful dialogue has now been destroyed and marred by this violence," Rep. Murphy said. "This is not how America operates. I am ashamed of this horrible behavior."
WUNC's Celeste Gracia contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Rep. Greg Murphy intended to object to the results from Arizona. He had announced an intention to object to results from certain states, but had not specified which states.
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