Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images, Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
- More than 170 American business executives have signed a letter urging Congress to certify the electoral vote on Wednesday, which would confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
- Goldman Sachs’ chairman and CEO David M. Solomon, Microsoft’s President Brad Smith, BlackRock’s CEO Laurence D. Fink, and Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla were among the 170 signatories.
- “Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy,” the business leaders said in the letter.
- Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris deserve respect as America faces “the worst health and economic crises in modern history,” they said.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
More than 170 business leaders across America on Monday signed a letter urging Congress to certify the presidential election results without delay.
Congress is scheduled to certify the results on Wednesday, confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory. President Donald Trump has so far refused to acknowledge that he lost the election.
The Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization and major advocacy group for the business community, published the letter on Monday. Signatories included Goldman Sachs’ Chairman and CEO David M. Solomon, Microsoft’s President Brad Smith, BlackRock CEO Laurence D. Fink, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
“This presidential election has been decided and it is time for the country to move forward,” the business leaders wrote in the letter. “President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have won the Electoral College and the courts have rejected challenges to the electoral process.
“Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy,” the executives said.
James Zelter, co-president of Apollo Global Management, and Lyft's CEO Logan Green also signed the letter.
Biden and Harris deserve respect and bipartisan support as America faces "the worst health and economic crises in modern history," they said.
The letter said that Congress should certify the electoral vote on Wednesday, when the vote count is finalized, adding "there should be no further delay in the orderly transfer of power."
But at least 140 Republican House members are planning to vote against certification of the electoral vote, two Republican congressmen told CNN.
Trump and other Republicans have tried to overturn the results of the election, and have shared false claims of voter fraud.
The letter to Congress comes a day after Trump pleaded with Georgia's secretary of state, in an hour-long recorded phonecall, to "find" additional votes to secure his win in the state and overturn Biden's victory.
Biden won the 2020 presidential election with 306 electoral college votes, flipping five states that in 2016 voted for Trump.
