No lawmaker objected during the roughly 30-minute ceremony, which culminated when tellers read out the results from Texas and Trump formally clinched the 270 electoral votes necessary to become the next president of the United States.
Members of the House and Senate clapped politely as the presidential candidates from their party were named victors in each respective state – a marked contrast from four years ago when a mob of Trump supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol during a deadly riot that delayed for several hours the ceremony that declared President Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.