Today, Senator O'Connor and his colleagues in the Senate Minority Caucus issued the following statement:
“Members of the Congress of the United States have completed the Constitutionally duties incumbent on them, the 2020 presidential election results have been affirmed, and the Electoral College ballots have been certified - Joe Biden will become President of the United States on January 20th. The violent lawlessness that ultimately led to the destruction of property, the disruption of Congressional proceedings, and the tragic loss of life, is abhorrent and unjustifiable; We condemn it and the inspiration for it.
Peaceful and purposeful acts of protest will have, and should always have, an important core function in the people’s ability to express their wants, needs, and hopes. In contrast, the marauding and mayhem, fueled by duplicity and inflammatory rhetoric, that took place yesterday, at the very location where President-elect Biden will raise his hand to swear an oath to protect the Constitution, was instead, a debasement of that document and its principles.
There is a divide present in our nation but there is also a fundamental ability to heal that divide. Our ultimate faith in the goodness of our neighbors, and those who live in communities, and cities and towns across our Commonwealth and our nation, informed from the trials that have tested us in the past, gives us great hope that we can regain our sense of common purpose as Americans.”