A deeply alarming attack on democracy is well under way in America.
Latching on to Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, candidates across the country are running for positions in which they would exert enormous influence over the way ballots are cast and counted. Candidates who have embraced election lies are also seeking to be governors in swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, where they would play a critical role in certifying elections.
Several of these candidates, many of whom Trump has endorsed, refuse to acknowledge Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election and have embraced the idea of “decertifying” the presidential election. Some have called for jailing their political rivals. Many of these contests are races for secretary of state, the chief election official in many places, and a little-known office. If these candidates are successful, there is concern that the pieces will be in place to overturn the results of a future election.
The Guardian is tracking several of these races throughout US primaries this year.
Arizona
Kari Lake
Running for: Governor
Trump endorsed: Yes
Role in 2020: TV news anchor
A frontrunner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Lake has said the election was “corrupt” and that she would not have certified the 2020 vote. She has called for “decertifying” the 2020 election, which is not legally possible. She has called for jailing Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who now serves as secretary of state, as well as ending all early voting, which is widely used in Arizona.
Mark Finchem
Running for: Secretary of state
Trump endorsed: Yes
Role in 2020: Arizona state representative
Finchem, who is running to be Arizona’s top election official, was among 30 Arizona lawmakers who signed a joint resolution in December 2020 calling on Congress not to give Arizona’s 11 electors to Joe Biden, who won the state, and instead give them to Trump. He has been involved with the Oath Keepers, an extremist group, and was at the US Capitol on January 6, and has been subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the attack, which is interested in his communications with organizers of the “stop the steal” rally planned for that day but cancelled. He hosted Rudy Giuliani in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election as he spread misinformation about the election. He has also introduced legislation to “decertify” the 2020 election.
Shawnna Bollick
Running for: Secretary of state
Trump endorsed: No
Role in 2020: Arizona state representative
Bollick wrote an unsuccessful bill that would have allowed the Arizona legislature to overturn the results of an election. The same bill would have ended no-excuse mail-in voting in Arizona and contained provisions that appeared based on conspiracies about the 2020 election, including a requirement that ballots be printed with a hologram or unique water mark. She also signed a resolution in December 2020 asking Congress to give Arizona’s 11 electoral college votes to Trump, even though Joe Biden won the state.
Georgia
David Perdue
Running for: Governor
Trump endorsed: Yes
Role in 2020: US senator
After losing his Senate re-election campaign in 2020, Perdue announced he was running for governor against Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican incumbent. Trump is backing Perdue as he continues to fume at Kemp over the governor’s refusal to block certification of Biden’s victory in 2020.
Perdue, considered a long shot to beat Kemp, has embraced election conspiracies. “In my election and the president’s election, they were stolen. The evidence is compelling now,” he said in March. He said he would not have certified the 2020 election. After his campaign announcement, he joined a lawsuit seeking to show that there “were serious…
Read More: The ‘big lie’ advocates running for office in swing states across the US | US voting rights