Before the Electoral College certification vote, Donald Trump had attempted to overturn the results of the election for two months, promoting the Stop the Steal conspiracy theory that he had won, and filing dozens of lawsuits at the state level that were ruled against or dismissed.
On December 2, 2020, Politico reported that Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama was planning to object to the counting of the electoral votes from several states won by Biden.
One of the earliest known uses of the term is from an Orlando Sentinel editorial on December 31, which noted that "about a dozen senators declared they're joining what's disparagingly being called the Sedition Caucus to overturn the election, despite Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's warnings against such a move.
"[8] Another early use of the term is by CNN host Jake Tapper on January 3, who said "Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska slammed Hawley and others of the Sedition Caucus saying, 'adults don't point a loaded gun at the legitimate government.
Conservative columnist Max Boot compared Sedition Caucus members to Senator Joseph McCarthy and he argued that they should similarly "see their careers crash and burn".
[16] In June 2021, Democratic U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly used the term, saying he thought McCarthy "would probably appoint people from the Sedition Caucus" to a proposed January 6 commission.
[18] Political scientist Hans Noel said he believed the Sedition Caucus and their "progenitors" come from a common strain of racism, comparing their beliefs to Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, Shelby County v. Holder, poll taxes, literacy tests, and white primaries.
[22][23][24] On January 21, The Lincoln Project, a conservative anti-Trump political action committee, announced it would run ads against Sedition Caucus members.