How do they both compete simultaneously for the election? If there are 535 congressmen and the president needs 270 electoral college votes, then how can they BOTH even have that many votes possible at once? There aren't even enough potential votes for them to simultaneously have 270 in potential. The houses of congress will be either dem or rep, so how can they both have a chance at being elected?
The electoral college is basically a state by state winner take all contest. It's not actually voted by Congress.