- Some high-profile Trump-backed midterm hopefuls are conceding their election defeats.
- Their response to apparent failures comes amid worries about how they handle such setbacks.
- Not every candidate has conceded. Pennsylvania Republican Doug Mastriano is a notable holdout.
A trio of high-profile candidates backed by former President Donald Trump offered quick concessions in key midterm races after they spent months stoking fears about the 2020 presidential election. But it remains to be seen whether some of the highest-profile election deniers such as Arizona Republican Kari Lake will go quietly if their races do not go their way.
"This morning I called John Fetterman and congratulated him," Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a Wednesday statement announcing his concession. "I wish him and his family all the best, both personally and as our next United States Senator."
—Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) November 9, 2022
Oz was just one of the hundreds of pro-Trump candidates that raised doubts about the 2020 election. Trump gleefully cited their allegiance in a litany of endorsements for everything from the US Senate to state legislatures. It was and remains an open question how many of them will follow his lead and cast doubts on the 2022 midterms.
Lake has already stoked doubts about the election. She told supporters Wednesday night that her race was "like Groundhog Day." While in Pennsylvania, Republican Doug Mastriano has still not conceded his defeat even after every major network projected that Attorney General Josh Shapiro will become the commonwealth's next governor.
For his part, Trump was already stoking discord before polls closed. Election officials quickly rushed out statements debunking his claims or putting them in the proper context of the normal kerfuffles that arise during every election.
To classify election deniers, Insider relied on an extensive Washington Post report that classified a candidate as a denier if they did one of a series of actions, including questioning Biden's victory, opposing the counting of Electoral College votes, or signing onto a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
Republicans Chris Cox, Paul LePage, Lee Zeldin, Tim Michels, Tudor Dixon, and Scott Jensen lost gubernatorial races in Maryland, Maine, New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, respectively. All of them conceded their projected defeats.
But the record is far more mixed for secretaries of state hopefuls, who in many states wield would significant power over elections. Kristina Karamo, Kim Crockett, and Audrey Trujillo are projected to have lost their campaigns in Michigan, Minnesota, and New Mexico, respectively. But none of the three women appears to have offered an explicit concession.
"We ran an honest race and fought hard for New Mexico with little money and little support from the party," Trujillo wrote in a Facebook post that did not concede the race or congratulate her opponent.
Legally speaking, concessions hold no weight, as elections are not over until results have been canvassed and certified which can take weeks.
Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 presidential election reminded Americans that admitting defeat is not just a sign of basic grace and decency. When candidates only accept the results when they win, it undermines faith in elections across the board.
It is worth noting that before Trump candidates from both parties readily conceded races. They did so from the presidential level on down. Sometimes candidates, such as Vice President Al Gore, did so after protracted legal challenges.
Not since Andrew Jackson has an American political figure made defeat such a singular part of their future. And it should be noted Jackson actually received more votes than the ultimate winner John Quincy Adams.