GOP lawmakers plan to challenge Biden wins in at least three states — but don’t want to debate past midnight

Republican lawmakers are planning to challenge Joe Biden's election win in at least three states, but they're not eager to drag out the debate for hours and hours.

Congress will meet Wednesday in a joint session to certify the electoral vote count, which is normally just a formality, but Politico obtained details from a private planning call between GOP senators and House members who intend to object to certifications for some key states where President Donald Trump lost.

Sen. Ted Cruz and about nine or 10 other senators took part in the planning Monday afternoon with Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and the senators wanted to limit their objections to three or four states, while House members wanted to object to six -- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

They are focused primarily on objecting to Biden's wins in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, which is the only state so far where one House member and one senator have agreed to challenge.

Senators have agreed to raise objections to states which they believe have "constitutional deficiencies," but they may challenge other states after seeing how the process plays out for those three agreed-upon states.

The lawmakers didn't discuss how long they wanted to drag out the process, which the president seems to believe will result in overturning his election loss, but Politico's source said they didn't seem eager to debate past midnight.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the first senator to signal support for the House effort to challenge Biden's win, did not participate in the roughly 50-minute call, and the source described him as a "wild card" in the process.