WASHINGTON \u2014 The day after Josh Hawley became the first Republican senator to say he would indulge President Trump\u2019s demand that lawmakers try to overturn the election, a reporter asked if he thought the gambit would make him unpopular with his colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than I already am?\u201d he retorted.<\/p>\n
Even before Mr. Hawley lodged what was certain to be a futile objection to Congress\u2019s certification of the results, the 41-year-old senator \u2014 regarded as a rising Republican star who could one day run for president \u2014 was far from the chamber\u2019s most popular lawmaker.<\/p>\n
His insistence on pressing the challenge after a violent mob egged on by Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol to protest President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.\u2019s victory, endangering the entire Congress and the vice president in a day of terror that left at least five people dead, has earned him pariah status in Washington.<\/p>\n
But while Mr. Hawley\u2019s role in the riot may have left him shunned \u2014 at least for now \u2014 in official circles, it may only have improved his stock with his party\u2019s base in his home state, which remains deeply loyal to Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n
His fellow Republicans in the Senate lined up to blame Mr. Hawley for the riot. The editorial boards of major newspapers in Missouri accused him of having \u201cblood on his hands\u201d and called on him to resign. His publisher canceled his book deal and his erstwhile mentor called his efforts to get Mr. Hawley elected to the Senate \u201cthe biggest mistake I\u2019ve ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for him, it wouldn\u2019t have happened,\u201d former Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri, the Republican elder statesman, told The Kansas City Star of his former prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u2019s role in the riot.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hawley has remained defiant, arguing Wednesday evening that the electoral count in Congress was the proper venue to debate his concerns about fraud in the balloting, though he never made a specific charge of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections,\u201d Mr. Hawley said in a statement. \u201cThat\u2019s my job, and I will keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But many Republicans dismissed his effort as grandstanding intended to further his own political ambitions. Some Democratic senators demanded his resignation. And on Friday, Mr. Biden said that Mr. Hawley and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, were part of \u201cthe big lie\u201d that had animated Mr. Trump\u2019s refusal to concede, invoking Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany\u2019s minister of propaganda.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hawley lashed out at Mr. Biden, accusing him of \u201cundignified, immature, and intemperate behavior\u201d and calling on him to \u201cretract these sick comments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours after the mob was cleared from the Capitol on Wednesday, Mr. Hawley refused to drop his challenge to the election results, objecting to Pennsylvania\u2019s slate of electors and forcing both chambers into a two-hour debate on his call to throw out millions of the state\u2019s votes.<\/p>\n
An image of Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, sitting behind Mr. Hawley and glaring as the Missourian gazed into television cameras and made his case from the Senate floor became an instant meme. Mr. Hawley\u2019s challenge was rejected by broad bipartisan margins, with only six Republican senators joining him in supporting it.<\/p>\n
By Thursday, the fallout reached beyond the scorn of his colleagues. The publisher Simon & Schuster said it was canceling publication of his book \u201cThe Tyranny of Big Tech,\u201d citing \u201chis role in what became a dangerous threat.\u201d Mr. Hawley responded with an angry statement that called his former publisher a \u201cwoke mob\u201d and described their decision as \u201ca direct assault on the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could not be more Orwellian,\u201d Mr. Hawley said. \u201cThis is the left trying to cancel everyone they don\u2019t approve of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet some of the harshest criticism came from his own party. His bid was in direct defiance of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, who had implored his members not to challenge the election results and force a divisive vote when there was no chance of changing the outcome. Searing blowback came from other Republicans who are also considered 2024 presidential contenders and could find themselves running against Mr. Hawley in a crowded primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Hawley was doing something that was really dumbass,\u201d Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, told NPR. \u201cThis was a stunt. It was a terrible, terrible idea. And you don\u2019t lie to the American people. And that\u2019s what\u2019s been going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, also lashed out at Mr. Hawley in a Fox News interview on Thursday \u2014 though he did not call him out by name \u2014 for indulging the effort to overturn the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have some senators who, for political advantage, were giving false hope to their supporters, misleading them into thinking that somehow yesterday\u2019s actions in Congress could reverse the results of the election,\u201d Mr. Cotton said in a clip circulated by his office. \u201cThat was never going to happen, yet these senators, as insurrectionists literally stormed the Capitol, were sending out fund-raising emails. That shouldn\u2019t have happened, and it\u2019s got to stop now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and former aide to Mr. McConnell, said in an interview that he believed Mr. Hawley\u2019s decision to raise his objection to Pennsylvania\u2019s electors hours after the mob stormed the Capitol was a \u201cdisqualifying\u201d display of judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the Capitol had been literally occupied, how can you give quarter to the viewpoint that caused the occupation?\u201d Mr. Jennings said. \u201cWhat would it have taken for Josh Hawley to withdraw his objection? How do you come back from that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Some Democrats said Mr. Hawley never could. Senators Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democrat, and Chris Coons of Delaware, one of Mr. Biden\u2019s closest allies in the chamber, demanded that Mr. Hawley resign. Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, argued that the Senate should censure him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny senator who stands up and supports the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office,\u201d Ms. Murray said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Still, as Republicans struggled to recover from an episode that has exposed deep rifts in their ranks, there was evidence that Mr. Hawley\u2019s actions on Wednesday had boosted his standing with influential elements of his party.<\/p>\n
The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee founded by former Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, defended Mr. Hawley and urged its members to donate to his campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe junior senator from Missouri\u2019s decision to object to the election results showed tremendous courage,\u201d the fund-raising pitch, signed by Mary Vought, the fund\u2019s executive director, said. \u201cConservatives should stand shoulder to shoulder with him in defending our cherished values.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christian Morgan, a St. Louis-based strategist and former top aide to Representative Ann Wagner, Republican of Missouri, also defended Mr. Hawley.<\/p>\n
\u201cBernie Sanders did not cause the attempted mass assassination of Republican Members of Congress, James Hodgkinson did,\u201d Mr. Morgan wrote on Twitter, referring to a liberal activist who opened fire on Republican lawmakers during a softball practice in 2017. \u201cJosh Hawley & Ted Cruz did not cause an angry mob to invade the Capitol and murder a Capitol Police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaders of the Missouri Republican Party did not respond to interview requests on Friday. But their most recent Facebook post \u2014 celebrating National Missouri Day and written before the chaos on Wednesday \u2014 started drawing comments suggesting that party leaders begin searching for a candidate to mount a primary challenge to Roy Blunt, Missouri\u2019s senior Republican senator, who voted to certify the election results.<\/p>\n
The former head of Missouri\u2019s Republican Party, Jean Evans, said that she resigned from the position before the events on Wednesday in response to people demanding that the party bus people to protest in Washington and calling for violent behavior.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was concerned and alarmed by what I was hearing from certain elements within the party calling for a coup,\u201d Ms. Evans told a local television station.<\/p>\n