WASHINGTON — A group of about 200 business leaders is imploring Congress to certify the electoral college votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Jan. 6.
In a letter, signed by executives of Macy's, Lyft, Pfizer and more, business leaders insist that the "presidential election has been decided and it is time for the country to move forward."
"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," the letter adds. "Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy."
President Donald Trump has been fighting to hold on to the White House, and the president has strongly appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden when they convene to certify the Electoral College vote on Wednesday.
President Trump claims election fraud occurred, however, neither he nor any of the lawmakers promising to object to the certification have presented credible evidence that would have changed the outcome of the Electoral College votes.
Nevertheless, more than 100 House Republicans, along with about a dozen Senate Republicans, have said they will challenge the electoral votes in at least one of the battleground states on Wednesday.
The letter from executives said that Biden is facing enough problems like the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy and jobless Americans, and that he deserves "the respect and bipartisan support of all Americans." The letter adds that there should not be any more delay in transitioning power over to the Biden administration.
Here is the full list of the executives who signed the letter:
- William D. Abramson, Director of Brokerage, Buchbinder & Warren Realty Group LLC
- Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital
- Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.
- Simon Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.
- Leo Argiris, Principal & Chief Operating Officer, Americas Region, Arup
- Jeffrey H. Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners
- Ajay Banga, Executive Chairman, Mastercard
- Neil Barr, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
- Erin Barringer, Director, Dalberg Americas
- Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
- Charles R. Bendit, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC
- Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC
- William H. Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc.
- Seth Bernstein, President & CEO, AB
- David Beveridge, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling, LLP
- Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
- Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.
- Henry Blodget, CEO and co-founder, Insider Inc.
- Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.
- Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners
- Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
- John Borthwick, Founder & CEO, Betaworks
- Albert Bourla, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer Inc.
- John Bruckner, President, NY, National Grid
- Ari Buchalter, President & CEO, Intersection
- Martin S. Burger, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.
- Donald A. Capoccia, Principal, BFC Partners
- Richard M. Cashin, Managing Partner, One Equity Partners
- Timothy Cawley, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.
- Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
- David Coleman, Chief Executive Officer, The College Board
- Anthony R. Coscia, Partner and Executive Committee Member, Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP
- Cromwell Coulson, President & CEO, OTC Markets Group
- Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture
- Toby Dodd, President, New York Tri-State, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
- William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
- Brian Duperreault, Chief Executive Officer, American International Group, Inc.
- Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.
- Richard Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman
- Scott A. Edelman, Chairman, Milbank LLP
- Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners
- Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.
- Douglas F. Eisenberg, Founder and CEO, A&E Real Estate, LLC
- Catherine Engelbert, Commissioner, WNBA
- Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Vice Chairman, Portfolio Manager, Edgewood Management LLC
- Rob Fauber, President & Chief Executive Officer, Moody’s Corporation
- Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock
- Peter Finn, Founding Partner, Finn Partners
- John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk
- Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers
- Alan H. Fishman, Founder, Willow Holdings, Inc.
- William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC
- Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company
- Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
- Jeff Gennette, Chairman & CEO, Macy’s, Inc.
- Dave Gilboa, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
- MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder & CEO, MAG Partners LP
- Dan Glaser, President & CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
- Dexter Goei, Chief Executive Officer, Altice USA
- Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
- Perry Golkin, Chief Executive Officer, PPC Enterprises LLC
- Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Knight Frank
- Jonathan D. Gray, President & COO, Blackstone
- Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC
- Logan Green, Co-Founder & CEO, Lyft
- David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
- Kelly Grier, US Chair & Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP
- Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital
- Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation
- Dale Hemmerdinger, Chairman, Atco Properties & Management, Inc.
- Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer, BCW
- Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC
- Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd
- John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, Sesac
- Roberta Kaplan, Founding Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP
- Harry Kargman, Founder & CEO, Kargo
- Alex Karp, CEO & Co-Founder, Palantir Technologies
- Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
- Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC
- Anthony S. Kendall, Chairman & CEO, Mitchell & Titus, LLP
- Richard A. Kennedy, President & CEO, Skanska USA Inc.
- Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.
- Brian Kingston, CEO of Real Estate, Brookfield Asset Management
- Paul Knopp, U.S. Chair & CEO, KPMG LLP
- Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
- Philip Krim, Co-Founder & CEO, Casper
- Barbara Armand Kushner, President, Armand Corporation
- Christopher Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Halmar International, LLC
- William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.
- Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
- Kewsong Lee, Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group
- Rich Lesser, President & CEO, Boston Consulting Group
- Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC
- Allan Levine, Chairman & CEO, Global Atlantic Financial Company
- Jeffrey E. Levine, Chairman, Douglaston Development
- Robert A. Levine, Chief Executive Officer, RAL Companies & Affiliates, LLC
- Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
- Alex Liu, Managing Partner & Chairman, Kearney
- Robert P. LoCascio, Founder & CEO, LivePerson, Inc.
- Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer, Condé Nast
- Mehdi Mahmud, CEO & President, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC
- Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust
- Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.
- Theodore Mathas, Chairman & CEO, New York Life Insurance Company
- Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer, WeWork
- Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners
- Charles R. McCall, Chief Executive Officer, Astoria Energy II LLC &, Astoria Energy LLC
- Kevin J. McCarty, Chairman & CEO, West Monroe Partners
- Andrew McMahon, President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- Avner Mendelson, President & CEO, Bank Leumi USA
- Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Collective[i]
- Keith Mestrich, President & CEO, Amalgamated Bank
- Marc Metrick, President & CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue
- Edward J. Minskoff, Chairman & CEO, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.
- Greg Mondre, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Silver Lake
- Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, MCR Development LLC
- Deanna M. Mulligan, Chief Executive Officer, DM Mulligan, LLC
- Oscar Munoz, Executive Chairman, United Airlines, Inc.
- Daniel Nardello, Chief Executive Officer, Nardello & Co. LLC
- Liz Neumark, Chair & Founder, Great Performances
- Mark Pearson, President & CEO, Equitable
- Michael A. Peterson, Chairman & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
- Michael Phillips, President, Jamestown Properties LLC
- Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chairman, Infor
- Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York
- Daniel Ramot, Co-Founder & CEO, Via
- Steven L. Rattner, Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC
- Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC
- Christiana Riley, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank Americas
- John Romeo, Managing Partner, Oliver Wyman
- James A. Rosenthal, Chief Executive Officer, BlueVoyant
- Evan Roth, Co-Chief Executive Officer, BBR Partners, LLC
- Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group
- Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.
- Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman & CEO, Savills Inc.
- William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.
- Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp
- Philip K. Ryan, Chairman, Swiss Re Americas
- Timothy Ryan, U.S. Chair & Senior Partner, PwC
- Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
- Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.
- Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Evercore Partners Inc.
- Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP
- Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.
- Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC
- Kathleen Shanahan, Chief Executive Officer, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.
- Suzanne Shank, President & CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC
- Joseph C. Shenker, Chair, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
- Tarek Sherif, Co-Founder & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.
- Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC
- Adam Silver, Commissioner, National Basketball Association
- Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.
- Brad Smith, President, Microsoft
- David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs
- Jeffrey Solomon, Chair & CEO, Cowen
- Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer
- Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman & CEO, American Express Company
- Robert K. Steel, Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners
- Douglas C. Steiner, Chairman, Steiner Studios
- Alan Suna, Chief Executive Officer, Silvercup Studios
- Rajat Suri, Founder & CEO, Presto
- Sanjay Swani, Managing Partner, Tailwind Capital
- Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst
- Michael J. Sweeney, Executive Vice President; Eastern U.S. President, HNTB Corporation
- Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer, Accenture
- Paul J. Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners Inc.
- Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties
- Wayne Ting, Chief Executive Officer, Lime
- Gary M. Tischler, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC
- Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty
- Paul Todd, Chief Executive Officer, GLG
- Jean-Marie Tritant, Chief Executive Officer, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
- William B. Tyree, Managing Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
- Joseph Ucuzoglu, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte
- Robert Vecchio, Chief Executive Officer, LPI, Inc.
- Ellis Verdi, President, DeVito/Verdi
- James R. Wacht, President, Lee & Associates NYC
- George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC
- Robert E. Wankel, Chairman & CEO, The Shubert Organization, Inc.
- Pamela S. Wasserstein, President, Vox Media
- Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP
- David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.
- Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors LLC
- Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
- Nina Zagat, Co-Founder, Zagat
- Tim Zagat, Co-Founder, Zagat
- Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC
- James Zelter, Co-President, Apollo Global Management, Inc.
- John Zimmer, Co-Founder & President, Lyft
The Associated Press contributed to this report.