Lawmakers certified President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory on Monday in a largely quiet affair that marked Mr. Trump as only the second incoming president to serve non-consecutive terms.

It took just over a half hour to make Mr. Trump’s victory official, cementing him alongside President Grover Cleveland, who was the first commander in chief to serve non-consecutive terms in 1885 and then 1893.

Republicans viewed the certification as the first real steps to moving closer to implementing Mr. Trump’s agenda, while Democrats saw the proceedings through a somber lens informed by the violent events of four years ago.

“The Republican coalition is broad and strong and growing,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, before the certification. “Now, the work begins of delivering our agenda. … Republicans are ready to go.”

Inside the House chamber, lawmakers chatted and shook hands with their counterparts in the House and Senate, and once the tally began, applause broke out on the corresponding sides of the aisle as the electoral votes that Mr. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris won, respectively, were read aloud.

In the front row was Vice President-elect J.D. Vance of Ohio, who until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 is still serving his term in the Senate.

Democrats stuck to their promise of not raising an objection to the certification process carried out by Ms. Harris, ensuring that the transition from the Biden administration to the incoming Trump administration would be relatively drama-free.

“We accept the results — even though we don’t like them — because our loyalties lie with the Constitution and with the rule of law,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said in floor remarks ahead of the certification. “We hope what happens today, rather than what happened four years ago, stands as a shining example for future generations of how one conducts themselves in a free democracy.”

Their reticence to objecting was largely informed by criticisms they levied on Republicans for objecting to President Biden’s certification, and made more difficult by legislation passed after Jan. 6, 2021, that increased the threshold to challenge the results of the Electoral College from one House member and one senator to at least 20% of members from either chamber. It also affirmed that the vice president’s role into a purely ceremonial one.

The events of Monday’s fairly quiet process — which was made all the more subdued by a heavy snowfall virtually shutting down Washington — was a far cry from the writhing mass of humanity that burst through the doors and windows of the Capitol four years ago when a pro-Trump mob marched through the Capitol.

Indeed, Capitol Hill was mostly still before the joint session of Congress, save for the heavy security presence that patrolled inside and out of the Capitol Complex.

Democrats have continued to reiterate the events of that day, during floor testimony or on the campaign trail, recalling the thousands of Mr. Trump’s supporters that crashed through doors and smashed windows and the subsequent deaths of five police officers and a woman who was shot and killed as fellow rioters tried to break into the Capitol.

However, their campaign on the Jan. 6 riot failed to sway voters in Democrarats’ favor, as Mr. Trump won a return trip to the White House and Republicans retained control of the House and seized control of the Senate.

“It was not the most salient issue on Election Day, largely because of inflation, and I think immigration as well, had pushed it from the top of the agenda,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Massachusetts Democrat, said on CNN. “But that does not mean that voters do not expect their elected officials to respect the Constitution of the United States. I’m confident that they do.”

“And one of the worst things that Donald Trump did is he hijacked the patriotism of his base by convincing them that they were the ones protecting democracy, when in fact they were the ones colluding against the peaceful transfer of power,” he added.

Republicans have sought to poke holes in the narrative that they say Democrats crafted in the wake of Jan. 6, particularly his level of involvement with the mob that marched on the Capitol.

While they did not make a fuss on the House floor, Democrats did not want to let what happened four years ago be washed away by the changing of administrations.

President Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and many others weighed in ahead of the certification, affirming their commitment to a peaceful transition of power, but beckoning the country to not forget.

“We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago,” Mr. Biden wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

“An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day,” he continued. “To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand.”

Ms. Pelosi said in a statement that Jan. 6 “left behind physical scars and emotional trauma” on lawmakers, staff and the country that persist to this day.

Ms. Pelosi, like other members of Congress, was evacuated from the Capitol as the events of the day unfolded. A documentary following her that day captured footage of her telling her chief of staff that she bore responsibility for not having the National Guard on hand during the certification process.

“The parable of January 6th reminds us that our precious democratic institutions are only as strong as the courage and commitment of those entrusted with their care,” she said. “On January 6th, we gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there by returning to the Capitol to certify the election results and demonstrate to America and the world that our Democracy prevailed.”

Republicans were largely silent on the events of four years ago as they took to social media to post about their excitement over certifying Mr. Trump’s victory.

“We’re unified. We’re ready to go,” Rep. Tony Gonzales, Texas Republican, said in a video posted to X. “We have big problems to solve. We get to secure the border, [enact] regulatory reform, make sure we drill, drill, drill and of course, tax reform, put more money in our pockets and not the federal government’s.”

One Republican who did acknowledge the anniversary of the 2021 Capitol riot was Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who sought to honor Capitol police and others who defended the institution that day.

“We owe these brave men and women, as well as all our nation’s law enforcement officers, a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay, but we can honor their service and sacrifice by reaffirming our commitment to upholding and protecting the democracy they so valiantly defended,” he said on X.

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.