Business leaders including several prominent asset management executives on Tuesday released a public letter calling on Congress to accept the results of the presidential election and “move forward.”
The letter — signed by almost 200 executives including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Blackstone president Jonathan Gray, and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon — asked Congress to certify the electoral vote on Wednesday without delay. The letter comes after a group of Republican lawmakers including Senator Ted Cruz announced plans to reject electoral votes from certain states unless Congress creates a commission to investigate their claims of voter fraud.
“The presidential election has been decided and it is time for the country to move forward,” the executives said in the letter. “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.”
“Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy,” the letter continued.
The group asked for the results to be accepted so that the incoming Biden administration can focus on the “urgent tasks of defeating Covid-19 and restoring the livelihoods of millions of Americans who have lost jobs and businesses during the pandemic.”
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Other signees included Maverick Capital managing partner Lee Ainslie, Carlyle Group chief executive Kewsong Lee, KKR co-CEO Henry Kravis, Neuberger Berman chief George Walker, and Apollo co-president James Zelter. They were joined by business leaders from other industries including Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla, United Airlines executive chairman Oscar Munoz, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
“Our duly elected leaders deserve the respect and bipartisan support of all Americans at a moment when we are dealing with the worst health and economic crises in modern history,” the group wrote. “There should be no further delay in the orderly transfer of power.”
