Nobody who denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election has won a 2022 race to run future elections in a swing state.
Voters in the 2022 midterms have repudiated every fervent 2020 denier who ran for secretary of state in a state that is expected to be competitive in the 2024 presidential election, according to CNN projections. The defeated candidates include Jim Marchant of Nevada, Kristina Karamo of Michigan and Mark Finchem of Arizona.
Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who would have had the power to choose his state’s election chief if he had won, has also lost. So has Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, a particularly vehement promoter of false claims about the 2020 election.
The midterms have not, however, been a total failure for 2020 deniers. CNN projects that four Republican-dominated states have elected secretary of state candidates who rejected, questioned or tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. At least 18 such candidates have been elected as governor or senator, CNN projects, most of them incumbents.
Secretary of state: CNN counted 12 Republican nominees for state elections chief who rejected, questioned or tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. CNN has projected four of those candidates as winners (all in Republican-dominated states) and eight as losers (including in Michigan, Arizona and Nevada). This means that no state expected to be a presidential battleground state in 2024 will have a 2020 denier as its elections chief.
Governor: CNN counted 22 Republican nominees for governor who rejected, questioned, tried to overturn or refused to affirm the 2020 election results. CNN has projected eight of those candidates as winners and 13 as losers, including Mastriano and Lake. One, Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, was in a race too early to call.
Senate: CNN counted 19 Republican nominees for the US Senate who rejected, questioned, tried to overturn or refused to affirm the 2020 results. (Senators have less power over elections than secretaries of state or governors do, but they do get a vote on certifying the Electoral College results in presidential elections and on federal elections legislation.) CNN has projected 10 of those candidates as winners and eight as losers. One, Herschel Walker of Georgia, is now in a runoff election.
You can read about the projected winners and losers in the interactive below. CNN will update this article as more information becomes available.
Click or tap on one of the candidates below for more details.
