Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and others in House leadership have largely backed Trump as he contests the election results and continues to baselessly claim he won the race.

Sen. Susan Collins on Friday joined the minority of Republicans willing to speak out against the president, saying that by refusing to concede Trump was denying President-elect Joe Biden access to briefings, office space and government resources he would need in the lead up to his inauguration.

Collins also slammed Trump for seeking to “pressure” state election officials working to certify their results, including hosting a delegation of Michigan lawmakers at the White House.

“There is a right way and a wrong way to compile the evidence and mount legal challenges in our courts,” the Maine senator said. “The wrong way is to attempt to pressure state election officials. That undermines the public’s faith in our election results without evidence and court rulings to support the allegations.”

Yet, the number of congressional Republicans willing to go against Trump or his base remains small. Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn — a staunch Trump ally — backpedaled after referring to Biden as “president-elect” in an interview with ABC News on Friday. Her office later told The Tennessean that she “misspoke.”

Meanwhile, Trump continues to assert that there was voter fraud without providing evidence. “Big voter fraud information coming out concerning Georgia. Stay tuned!” he tweeted Saturday morning. Georgia certified its results Friday.

A group of Pennsylvania Republican voters and candidates, led by Rep. Mike Kelly, filed a new lawsuit Saturday challenging the vote-by-mail system the state used for the Nov. 3 election and moved to join the Trump campaign’s ongoing federal lawsuit seeking to block certification of the state’s presidential election results.

Kelly’s suit filed in the state’s Commonwealth Court early Saturday argues that the vote-by-mail option passed by the state legislature in October 2019 violates the state constitution.

The motion to intervene filed in U.S. District Court in Williamsport, Pa., argues that the mail-in balloting resulted in large numbers of illegally cast ballots, although it’s not clear whether Kelly and his colleagues contend the numbers were sufficient to overturn Biden’s apparent margin of victory in the state of about 82,000 votes. The federal court filing asks that the Pennsylvania legislature be allowed to pick electors for the presidential contest or, alternatively, that the court “order an immediate new election.”

One expert, Trump 2016 campaign aide Matt Braynard, said in a declaration attached to the motion that his analysis of change-of-address data led him to conclude that more than 14,000 mail-in or early voters were not Pennsylvania residents and that at least 742 people voted in Pennsylvania and at least one other state.

Both filings are likely to face opposition over the reliability of using change-of-address data from the postal service to determine residency and over the timing of the legal efforts.

The state law broadening eligibility for mail-in voting, Act 77, was passed more than a year ago. In the federal court suit, Judge Matthew Brann heard arguments Tuesday on the Trump campaign’s request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against certifying Biden’s win. A ruling is expected shortly.

Josh Gerstein contributed reporting.

The latest effort to halt Michigan’s election certification process comes after President Donald Trump seemingly failed to persuade Republican members of Michigan’s legislature to help swing the state in his favor. After meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield said they were unaware of any new information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan.

Democratic President-elect Joe Biden won Michigan by about 150,000 votes. The state is among a handful where the Trump campaign has filed legal challenges. It is scheduled to certify its results Monday.

Republican state canvasser Norm Shinkle told the Detroit News on Friday that he was considering throwing his support behind an audit or delay of the final certification after two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers unsuccessfully attempted to rescind their certification of the county’s results after learning an audit would not be conducted prior to state certification.

Shinkle said he couldn’t make a decision before seeing the Michigan Bureau of Elections report on the certifications from 83 counties.
There are four members — two Democrats and two Republicans — on the Michigan State Board of Canvassers.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said earlier this week that her agency would perform a post-election audit of Wayne County and some other local jurisdictions. But she said the audit could not be done before state results were certified because election officials don’t have legal access to the documents needed until then, according to the Detroit News.

A group of Michigan voters alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday in the D.C. federal court that challenges and pressure on election officials amounted to attempted mass voter suppression by the Trump campaign.

OAKLAND, Calif. — One of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s children is quarantining after a school classmate tested positive for Covid-19, the governor’s office confirmed to POLITICO late Friday.

Newsom’s child was exposed at his private school and has been in a 14-day quarantine, communications director Nathan Click said in an email. POLITICO is not naming the school or child for privacy reasons.

It marked another rough turn for the Newsom family in a week where the governor has drawn harsh criticism for attending a 12-person dinner party at The French Laundry for a Sacramento lobbyist friend. The school exposure is likely to draw attention from teachers unions, who have called on the governor to close all campuses due to a surge in coronavirus cases.

“The family has taken the potential exposure seriously and is following all state protocols,” Click said. “After being alerted by the school that a classmate tested positive for COVID-19, the potentially exposed Newsom child began a 14-day quarantine from the date of exposure in accordance with state public health guidance for schools.”

Newsom received a rapid test this week that was negative and will get a nasal swab test this weekend, according to Click. All four Newsom children have tested negative, as has first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

“The Newsom child was tested twice [5 days and 7 days past their last contact with the COVID-19 positive student],” Click said. “In addition, each of the Newsom children were also tested on Day 5.”

Click said that the governor, his wife and their three other children are not required to quarantine, according to state health guidelines that require the quarantine of only the person directly exposed to an infected person.

Newsom said late last month that his four children, ages 4 to 11, had returned to in-person learning at their Sacramento private school under a “phased-in approach.” The school expanded to five days a week this month.

The governor has drawn fire because most of California’s 6 million public schoolchildren remain at home to do distance learning, as 20 of the 25 largest districts have opted to keep campuses shut, including the massive Los Angeles Unified School District. Assembly Education Chair Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) this month called the situation “state-sanctioned segregation” because more affluent suburban families have returned to class while city public schools serving lower-income residents have largely stayed home. Many students have struggled with distance learning, based on early report cards showing increases in failure.

With Covid-19 surging at an unprecedented pace and the state setting daily case records, Newsom moved 41 counties — with 94 percent of the state’s population — into the most restrictive coronavirus purple tier this week. That makes it much more difficult for schools that never opened to bring students back, and it has put a chill in reopening talks for districts that were considering opening back up. School districts and private schools that have already opened — including the Newsoms’ — can still remain open in the purple tier under the governor’s rules.

Click said that Newsom “has made the safety of students and staff a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic and has fought to ensure that every child — whether in a classroom or at home — is learning.” In a Nov. 6 letter sent to California’s mayors, Newsom noted that his most recent state budget “stabilized school funding and included a one-time investment of more than $5.3 billion in funds for local public schools to support learning and address barriers related to COVID-19.”

But O’Donnell and other leaders say Newsom must do more. The state is projected to have a $26 billion “windfall” over the next 18 months, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and Democratic legislative leaders have said some of that money should be spent on ensuring safety at schools.

The Sacramento private school the Newsoms attend will move to remote learning after Thanksgiving break through the second week of December, partly due to the higher risks associated with holiday activities next week, according to an email obtained by POLITICO. In order for students to return after that, they must obtain a negative Covid-19 test, and the school is offering testing to all students and staff.

The state’s largest teachers unions and school districts have demanded comparable precautions before they agree to reopen schools.

Newsom’s family exposure came in the same week that the governor made international headlines — and faced withering criticism — for attending a birthday dinner for lobbyist Jason Kinney at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant in Napa County. The dinner became fodder for cable hosts and editorials questioning what they considered the political hypocrisy of the governor, who has repeatedly urged Californians to avoid traveling for Thanksgiving, severely limit their socializing and avoid indoor dining to slow the spread of the virus.

Photos of the dinner, captured by Fox LA, showed the governor and Siebel Newsom sitting maskless alongside two top California Medical Association officials, CEO Dustin Corcoran and top lobbyist Janus Norman.

Though originally billed as an outdoor event, the photos showed diners at Kinney’s 50th birthday celebration in a room with three sides closed off, also raising questions about how Newsom defines “outdoor” dining in the pandemic — a definition that took on even more important meaning as most of the state was forced to close all indoor restaurant operations.

On Thursday, he ordered a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew starting Saturday in the 41 purple-tier counties. Residents must avoid venturing outside unless performing essential activities. The curfew will last until 5 a.m. on Dec. 21, more than a full month. Newsom said that he aimed to control the higher spread that occurs during activities fueled by inebriation and late-night antics, and he warned of “social activities and gatherings that have a higher likelihood of leading to reduced inhibition.”