- More than 370 GOP candidates on the ballot in the 2022 midterms denied or questioned the 2020 election results.
- Certain Republicans could have major impacts on certifying the 2024 election in battleground states.
Hundreds of Republican candidates who were on the 2022 midterm ballot denied or have refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.
More than 370 Republican candidates for the US Senate, House, and statewide offices have denied or questioned the 2020 results, according to a New York Times analysis published in mid-October.
Of the election deniers up for election, at least 177 have won their elections as of December 13 at 1:00 p.m. ET, according to Insider and Decision Desk HQ.
But many election deniers — at least 111 — have lost their races. Notably, two election-denying GOP candidates for governor — Tudor Dixon in Michigan and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania — lost by wide margins.
Election deniers who have won their races
High-profile Republican election deniers who've won their 2022 midterm races include Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul previously said the 2020 election was stolen in "many ways."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch ally of Donald Trump and an avid 2020 election denier, was re-elected for her House seat in Georgia. Greene fueled election fraud rumors on Twitter while voters were still casting their 2022 midterm votes.
—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) November 8, 2022
Matt Gaetz, who won his re-election bid for the House in Florida, has also boosted claims that there was fraud in the 2020 election. Gaetz, in tandem with Greene, has been one of the loudest voices in spreading election fraud claims.
GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas succeeded in his bid for re-election to the House. Despite publicly jumping on the 2020 election fraud bandwagon by not objecting to the electoral college vote recount, Crenshaw has since admitted that the election denial claims were "always a lie." The former Navy SEAL-turned-House member went on to say he has had arguments with other GOP members about how it was "just a lie to rile people up."
Republican and avid election-denier Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado won her unexpectedly tight re-election race against Democrat Adam Frisch nearly a month after Election Day.
Election deniers ran in every region of the country and in nearly every state nationwide, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Election deniers who could impact 2024 battleground states if elected
Of the election deniers on the ballot, 171 were favored to win and 46 were in races considered competitive. The rest were considered unlikely to win.
Many of the candidates were running for statewide offices, like secretary of state and attorney general, that could sway the 2024 election.
Candidates like Sarah Palin, who was running for a House seat in Alaska, could have played a major role in objecting to the electoral vote count following the 2024 presidential election. However, Palin lost to Democrat Mary Peltola, who previously won the special election for a vacated House seat against Palin in August.
Some deniers suffered defeat
Tudor Dixon, the GOP nominee for governor in Michigan has fueled election fraud conspiracy theories and refused to commit to accepting the 2022 election results. Decision Desk HQ called the race for Dixon's opponent, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the night of the election. Dixon announced that she'd conceded the race the next morning.
Mark Finchem, a member of the Oath Keepers who ran for Arizona secretary of state, has called for ballots to be hand counted and wants to give Republican authority figures the power to reject election results. Finchem lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes.
Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed GOP nominee for governor in Arizona, made 2020 election lies central to her campaign. Lake has said she would not have certified the 2020 presidential election results and has called for her opponent, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, to be arrested for doing so. Lake boosted claims that there was fraud in her own election calling the state's voting procedures "embarrassing."
"We need to get in there and restore faith in our elections," Lake said."We can't be the laughingstock of elections anymore here in Arizona and when I'm governor I will not allow it. I just won't."
Decision Desk HQ called the Arizona race for Hobbs on November 14.
Blake Masters, the GOP candidate for the Senate in Arizona who has embraced 2020 election fraud claims, lost his election bid to the incumbent Democrat, Sen. Mark Kelly.
Republican Herschel Walker, a former professional football player and Trump-endorsee, lost his highly-anticipated Senate runoff election in Georgia to Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. Decision Desk HQ called the race for Warnock the evening of December 6. Walker's controversial candidacy sparked national media attention.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more election results are decided.