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Luke Broadwater was at the Capitol when a pro-Trump mob stormed the complex on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. Four years later, he reflects on what has changed.
Jan. 6, 2025, 6:35 p.m. ET
A loudspeaker in the Senate press gallery crackled with a dire warning on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, and a voice announced a lockdown as I sat at my desk in the Capitol.
“External security threat,” I scribbled in my notepad, writing down what I was hearing. “Stay away from exterior windows and doors.” And then: “Seek cover.”
That was how I knew four years ago that something had gone wrong — very wrong — during what is typically a perfunctory event on Capitol Hill: certifying the results of the presidential election.
This year, Jan. 6 reverted to what it always had been: a constitutionally mandated, legally proscribed and routine step in the peaceful transfer of power, whereby Congress formalizes what has already been decided in a democratic election.
