The US Senate's top Democrat warned his Republican colleagues Thursday that they were "poisoning" the country's democracy by continuing to refuse to acknowledge Joe Biden's presidential election victory last week.
Only a handful of Republicans have publicly congratulated Mr Biden, who himself served for decades in the Senate - an awkward break with political tradition that has heightened the sense of polarisation in Washington.
Several Republican politicians including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have stood firm with President Donald Trump by supporting his refusal to concede the election and backing the flood of legal challenges that the party has introduced following the vote.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris holds hands with President-elect Joe Biden as they celebrate their election win. Source: AP
"We just had a divisive and hard-fought presidential election," a clearly frustrated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters.
"But instead of working to pull the country back together so that we can fight our common enemy COVID-19, Republicans in Congress are spreading conspiracy theories, denying reality and poisoning the well of our democracy."
Instead of following political norms and extolling America's ongoing tradition of a peaceful transition of power, Republicans who have no evidence of significant electoral fraud are "denying reality" and "auditioning for profiles in cowardice", Mr Schumer went on.
"Congressional Republicans are deliberately casting doubt on our elections for no other reason but fear of Donald Trump," he added, even after every major US media outlet called the race in Mr Biden's favor.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Source: ABACA
Political experts have said Republicans may be invoking such a strategy as a way to rile up Mr Trump's political base ahead of two key run-off elections for US Senate seats in Georgia that will determine which party controls the chamber going forward.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr Trump's top Democratic nemesis in Congress, also weighed in to call on Republicans to stop their "absurd circus" and focus their attention on combatting the pandemic and not Mr Biden's election victory.
"Now that the people have expressed their views, Joe Biden has won (and) Kamala Harris will be the first woman vice president of the United States," Ms Pelosi said.
