Trump Says He Has ‘Advantage’ If Election Went to Congress

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump on Saturday expressed confidence he would be re-elected president if Congress has to break an Electoral College tie in the 2020 election.

“I don’t want to end up in the Supreme Court and I don’t want to go back to Congress either, even though we have an advantage when we go back to Congress,” Trump said at a rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania.

If Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden end up with the same number of electoral votes, the Constitution requires the House of Representatives to decide the result with each state casting one vote for its entire delegation. Republicans control 26 House delegations and Democrats have 22, with two others split evenly between the parties. But that balance could change in the newly elected Congress that begins in January.

“Oh, they’re going to be thrilled to hear that. I’m sure they’re trying to figure out, how do we break that one?” the president said of the Democrats.

Biden currently leads Trump by roughly 7 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, and has an edge in several key battleground states.

But Trump’s comments suggest he is keeping a close eye on what might happen in the event of a tied or disputed election.

The president again repeated his claims, without presenting evidence, that the increased use of mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic would result in widespread fraud.

“They’re going to try and steal the election,” he told his supporters. “The only way they can win Pennsylvania, frankly, is to cheat on the ballots.”

Earlier this week, Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, saying he wasn’t sure an “honest” election could be held.

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