Trump isn’t the only Republican who is refusing to accept defeat

With the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden only 15 days away, President Donald Trump is still refusing to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. And Dan Lavoie, who served as a speechwriter for former New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, is noting that Trump isn't the only Republican who has been challenging election results. Two others include Jim Oberweis in Illinois and Nicole Ziccarelli in Pennsylvania.

In Illinois' 14^th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Lauren Underwood defeated Republican challenger Jim Oberweis in November — and she has been sworn into a second term in the U.S. House of Representatives. But only one day after Underwood was sworn in, Oberweis announced that he was challenging the election results. That election was quite close: Underwood, according to the Illinois Board of Elections, defeated Oberweis by 5,374 votes.

In an official statement, Oberweis (an Illinois state senator) said, "I do not believe we found any rampant fraud, but what we found is election jurisdictions around the 14th District not following the law, which led to an inability to verify that only those who were legally entitled to vote actually voted."

Ziccarelli, meanwhile, is challenging the election results in a Pennsylvania State Senate race in Allegheny County, where she was defeated by Democratic Sen. Jim Brewster in November. That race was even closer: Brewster won by only 69 votes, according to Associated Press reporter Marc Levy.

"The contest between Brewster and Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli hinged on court decisions that said mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date on the ballot envelope is not a reason to disqualify someone's vote," Levy reports. "(Pennsylvania) Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, called the Republicans' refusal to swear in Brewster during Tuesday's ceremony 'unlawful' and suggested that his caucus will go to court."

Costa accused Pennsylvania Republicans of trying to "steal an election" and said their actions following Brewster's victory are right out of "the Trump playbook."

"It's about abusing the process that's in place," Costa said.