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A Washington Post analysis shows the former president’s election denialism has become a price of admission in many Republican primaries
June 14, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT Former president Donald Trump endorses Matthew DePerno (R) for Michigan attorney general at an April 2 rally near Washington, Mich. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) J.R. Majewski marched to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and tweeted a photo with the caption: “It’s going down on 1/6.” Last month, he won the Republican nomination in an Ohio congressional district along Lake Erie. Monica De La Cruz, an insurance agent, contested her defeat in 2020 by repeating former president Donald Trump’s disproved allegations of mail-ballot fraud. For a second time, De La Cruz is the GOP nominee for a Texas House seat that touches the Mexican border. In an open primary in a safely Republican Georgia district, all nine candidates questioned the 2020 result. Of the two candidates who advanced to this month’s runoff, lawyer Jake Evans touted his past efforts to “overturn” elections, while physician Rich McCormick emphasized that he refused to concede in a 2018 race. “No one was hurt by voter fraud more than myself,” McCormick said during a May debate. About a third of the way through the 2022 primaries, voters have nominated scores of Republican candidates for state and federal office who say the 2020 election was rigged, according to a new analysis by The Washington Post. District by district, state by state, voters in places that cast ballots through the end of May have chosen at least 108 candidates for statewide office or Congress who have repeated Trump’s lies. The number jumps to at least 149 winning candidates — out of more than 170 races — when it includes those who have campaigned on a platform of tightening voting rules or more stringently enforcing those already on the books, despite the lack of evidence of widespread fraud. 2020 election denial pervasive among GOP primary winners Denied or directly questioned the 2020 election result* The Post found no evidence of a public denial, but candidate campaigned on issue of making elections more secure despite lack of evidence of fraud The Post review found no evidence of a public denial or direct questioning of the result, or a call to make elections more secure This data reflects primary and convention results through the end of May and uses a Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index (PVI) of R+4 or higher to determine whether a race leans Republican. PVI scores were not available for House races in Oregon or West Virginia or in KY-02, OH-13, PA-01 and PA-17 Either directly questioned Biden’s victory, opposed the counting of Biden’s electoral college votes, expressed support for a partisan post-election ballot review, signed onto a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 result, downplayed or sought to recast the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol or attended or expressed support for the rally that day. Denied or directly questioned the 2020 election result The Post found no evidence of a public denial, but candidate campaigned on issue of making elections more secure despite lack of evidence of fraud The Post review found no evidence of a public denial or direct questioning of the result, or a call to make elections more secure Republican-leaning race h This data reflects primary and convention results through the end of May and uses a Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index (PVI) of R+4 or higher to determine whether a race leans Republican. PVI scores were not available for House races in Oregon or West Virginia or in KY-02, OH-13, PA-01 and PA-17. Either directly questioned Biden’s victory, opposed the counting of Biden’s electoral college votes, expressed support for a partisan post-election ballot review, signed onto a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 result, downplayed or sought to recast the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol or attended or expressed support for the rally that day. Denied or directly questioned the 2020 election result The Post found no evidence of a public denial, but candidate campaigned on issue of making elections more secure despite lack of evidence of fraud The Post review found no evidence of a public denial or direct questioning of the result, or a call to make elections more secure This data reflects primary and convention results through the end of May and uses a Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index (PVI) of R+4 or higher to determine whether a race leans Republican. PVI scores were not available for House races in Oregon or West Virginia or in KY-02, OH-13, PA-01 and PA-17. Either directly questioned Biden’s victory, opposed the counting of Biden’s electoral college votes, expressed support for a partisan post-election ballot review, signed onto a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 result, downplayed or sought to recast the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol or attended or expressed support for the rally that day. Denied or directly questioned the 2020 election result The Post found no evidence of a public denial, but candidate campaigned on issue of making elections more secure despite lack of evidence of fraud The Post review found no evidence of a public denial or direct questioning of the result, or a call to make elections more secure This data reflects primary and convention results through the end of May and uses a Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index (PVI) of R+4 or higher to determine whether a race leans Republican. PVI scores were not available for House races in Oregon or West Virginia or in KY-02, OH-13, PA-01 and P-17. *Either directly questioned Biden’s victory, opposed the counting of Biden’s electoral college votes, expressed support for a partisan post-election ballot review, signed onto a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 result, downplayed or sought to recast the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol or attended or expressed support for the rally that day. The analysis offers a fresh portrait of the extent to which embracing Trump’s false claims has become part of a winning formula in this year’s GOP contests, and what it means for the immediate future of American democracy. The majority of the election-denying candidates who have secured their nominations are running in districts or states that lean Republican, according to Cook Political Report ratings, meaning they are likely to win the offices they are seeking. Many will hold positions with the power to interfere in the outcomes of future contests — to block the certification of election results, to change the rules around the awarding of their states’…
