Before the Electoral College certification vote, Trump had attempted to overturn the results of the election for two months, promoting the Stop the Steal conspiracy theory that he had won, and filing dozens of failed lawsuits at the state level. On December 2, 2020, "Politico" reported that Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama was planning to object to the counting of the electoral votes from several states won by Biden. On December 30, 2020, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri became the first senator to announce he would object to the vote certification, meaning the objection would need to be considered by Congress.