A very different Jan. 6 as Congress gathers to certify the 2024 election results

Faith E. Pinho, Los Angeles Times on Jan 6, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Four years after a violent mob stormed the Capitol, a full Congress is set to gather to certify the 2024 election, formally declaring President-elect Donald Trump the winner.

On a day replete with political symbolism for both parties, Democratic and Republican leaders sought to set the tone.

Trump cast a jubilant tone on his Truth Social page early Monday, calling it "A BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY. MAGA!"

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., marked a somber message in a statement Monday morning: "History will always remember the attempted insurrection and we will never allow the violence that unfolded in plain sight to be whitewashed."

What was once a perfunctory duty of Congress — certifying the electoral college votes from all states — became an international debacle in 2021, when people upset about Trump's reelection defeat in 2020 forced their way into the Capitol to disrupt the process.

"Thanks to the resilience of our institutions and the bravery of U.S. Capitol Police officers who risked their lives, this assault on our democracy failed. Yet, attacks on the right to vote and the very foundation of our democracy persist," said Democratic California Sen. Alex Padilla in a statement.

The riot, which unfolded on live television, immediately drew bipartisan condemnation. House leaders convened a committee to investigate the Jan. 6 rioters and law enforcement from across the country cracked down, leading to hundreds of convictions. But dueling political narratives quickly took hold.

By the time of the 2024 election, Trump had characterized Jan. 6, 2021, as "a day of love" and promised to pardon many of the rioters. Family members and supporters of those arrested after Jan. 6 frequently attended Trump's campaign events.

Democrats used the Jan. 6 attacks as evidence of a fragile democracy at risk of toppling under a second Trump administration. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris frequently portrayed Trump as a danger to democracy — though Republicans threw the insult back, alleging that Democrats stole the 2020 election. Democrats, who clearly lost in November, hammered a familiar line Monday: We are not sore losers.

Harris, who lost her bid for the presidency just two months ago, posted a video Monday asserting that she would fulfill her duty on Monday. Under the Constitution, the vice president presides over the certification. Harris joins a small club of vice presidents who lost their bids for president and were required to certify the results — among them Al Gore and Richard Nixon.

"The peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy," Harris said. "As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile. And it is up to, then, each one of us to stand up for our most cherished principles, and to make sure that in America, our government always remains of the people, by the people and for the people."

Several deep layers of security surrounded the Capitol buildings Monday morning, but the campus was mostly quiet as a snowstorm blanketed Washington, D.C., in white. Police presence was ramped up throughout the capital city.