Noting that only the states have the right to appoint electors to the Electoral College to represent the will of the voters in those respective states, seven Republican members of the House of Representatives issued a statement Monday saying they would respect the electors as appointed by the states.

Representatives Thomas Massie (Ky.), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Mike Gallagher (Wis.) Nancy Mace (S.C.), Tom McClintock (Cal.), Chip Roy (Texas) said that while there are questions about the process that need to be addressed in the way the election was conducted, the votes of the electors should be honored.

“But only the states have authority to appoint electors, in accordance with state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process,” the statement says.  “Its job is to count the electors submitted by the states, not to determine which electors the states should have sent.”

The Republicans noted that the integrity and independence of the Electoral College should not be questioned because Republican presidential candidates have only won the popular vote once since 1992, and that Republican efforts to undermine the Electoral College would harm Republicans in the future.

“From a purely partisan perspective, Republican presidential candidates have won the national popular vote only once in the last 32 years. They have therefore depended on the electoral college for nearly all presidential victories in the last generation,” they note.  “If we perpetuate the notion that Congress may disregard certified electoral votes—based solely on its own assessment that one or more states mishandled the presidential election—we will be delegitimizing the very system that led Donald Trump to victory in 2016, and that could provide the only path to victory in 2024.”