Voters reject Trump-backed election deniers in several key states

WASHINGTON - Voters in a series of critical battleground states rejected Republican candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state who have spread doubts about the 2020 election, blocking an effort to install allies of former President Donald Trump in positions with sweeping authority over voting.

In Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Democrats prevailed on Tuesday against Republican opponents who, to varying degrees, had campaigned on overhauling elections in ways that would benefit their party and called into question their commitment to democratic outcomes.

The results fell short of a nationwide backlash to Republican election deniers. Several such candidates for Senate were victorious, including JD Vance in Ohio and Rep Ted Budd in North Carolina, and dozens more won races for less prominent offices. Democrats also remain locked in contests against far-right rivals for governor and secretary of state in Arizona and Nevada that were too close to call on Wednesday.

But in several places where the question of how to run elections was directly on the ballot – particularly races for secretary of state – Trump-aligned Republicans did not do well. Setting aside Arizona and Nevada, where two leading proponents of 2020 election lies could still win, Democratic candidates for secretary of state beat far-right opponents in Michigan, New Mexico and Minnesota and were defeated by such a candidate only in deep-red Indiana.

Though Republicans drastically underperformed their own expectations, the 2022 midterms are far from resolved. The major gains that Republicans promised never materialised, but a ripple was inching the party toward a narrow majority in the House. And Senate control for either party was on a knife’s edge.

Four crucial House seats were awarded on Wednesday to Republicans, including one in Wisconsin to Mr Derrick Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL who was at the Capitol when rioters stormed it on Jan 6, 2021. In New York, Mr Mike Lawler stunned Rep Sean Patrick Maloney, the chairman of House Democrats’ campaign arm, taking one of as many as five seats in deep-blue New York that could flip and go a long way toward delivering Republicans the majority.

In the Senate, a seesaw contest between Sen Ron Johnson, R-Wis, and his Democratic challenger, Lt Gov Mandela Barnes, was officially called for Johnson on Wednesday morning. And Sen Raphael Warnock’s bid to stave off his Republican rival in Georgia, the former football star Herschel Walker, officially went to a Dec 6 runoff. Two endangered Democrats, Sens Mark Kelly of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, were still watching returns come in. If both prevail, Democrats will hold on to Senate control; if only one does, the Georgia runoff will determine the balance of power.

Meantime, as results rolled in, voters continued to deliver decidedly mixed results. One of the most ardent conspiracy theorists in the cycle, former news anchor Kari Lake, was in an extremely close contest for Arizona governor. Mark Finchem, an avowed denier of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Arizona, was narrowly behind in a contest for Arizona secretary of state, a position that administers elections.

Voters’ verdict in several states amounted to a repudiation – at least in part – of some of the most extreme positions on elections that Republicans have adopted since Trump’s 2020 defeat. In several closely watched races, Republicans who have staked out such ground fared worse Tuesday night than their GOP counterparts who recognized Biden’s legitimacy.

“I don’t feel like you can have a democracy where it’s like, ‘Either I win or you cheated,’” Mr Logan Patmon, 30, of Detroit said at a weekend rally for Gov Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who won on Tuesday. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but when people have that ‘Our winner was cheated,’ that’s like a developing, barely democratic country to me. I don’t like that.”

For more than two years, Democrats, voting rights groups, scholars and some moderate Republicans have warned about those who seek to undermine the democratic system. While voters have not made it their top priority, they have demonstrated an awareness of the dangers, with images of the 2021 Capitol riot still flashing on American screens, the House committee investigating the attack broadcasting its findings, and new controversies over armed poll watchers and threats to election officials making headlines.

But on Tuesday, the resilience of the country’s democracy was often on display. Turnout appeared high. Voting mostly went smoothly, apart from a few glitches that election officials resolved. Both parties put forward increasingly diverse fields of candidates. Meaningful numbers of voters, despite the nation’s polarization, split their tickets. And most candidates – though not all – conceded their losses.

Afterward, Democrats in important races hailed their victories as a blow against threats to US government.

“You showed up because you saw that democracy was on the brink of existence, and you decided to do a damn thing about it,” Gov Tony Evers of Wisconsin told supporters on early Wednesday after a concession by his Republican rival, Mr Tim Michels, who had promised that his party would “never lose another election” in the state if he were elected.

To some degree, the results represented a shoring up of the election apparatus in key states before the 2024 presidential election, as

Mr Trump indicates strongly that he will run again.

If his chosen candidates had won, their stated positions – including calls to eliminate voting by mail and election machines – would have preemptively raised questions about the fairness of the 2024 contest in their states and whether a Democratic victory would be certified.

The Democratic victories in competitive states like Wisconsin will also keep in place a check on Republican-led legislatures that have tried to enact restrictive voting laws and have even moved to give themselves more power over elections.

“Voters sent a very clear message: They believe in our elections; they believe in our freedom to vote,” said Ms Joanna Lydgate, the CEO of States United Action, a nonpartisan election group. “The voters stepped up to defend democracy, and in most places, Americans decisively rejected election deniers who wanted power over their votes.”

In Pennsylvania, Mr Josh Shapiro, the state’s Democratic attorney general, defeated Mr Doug Mastriano, a Republican state senator who marched near the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, and has pushed for significant new voting restrictions.

In Michigan, Ms Whitmer beat Mr Tudor Dixon, a Republican backed by Mr Trump. At a rally on Saturday, Ms Whitmer boasted that “my vetoes are protecting your voting rights, and I’m damn glad I have that veto pen”.

Ms Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic secretary of state in Michigan, also won, defeating Ms Kristina Karamo, a Republican who ardently promoted Mr Trump’s false 2020 claims.

And in Michigan’s race for attorney general, Ms Dana Nessel, the Democratic incumbent, edged past Mr Matthew DePerno, a Republican who was one of the architects of a conspiracy theory involving 2020 election machines in a rural county.

Tuesday’s victories for Democrats helped stymie plans set in motion immediately after the 2020 election, as Republicans aimed to nominate Trump allies to top election posts in battleground states. By the spring, more than a dozen contenders for secretary of state and other positions had assembled on a slate of so-called America First candidates. Six won their primaries, including in Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.

The presence on the ballot of multiple allies of Mr Trump – all whom made false claims of a rigged 2020 election – elevated the stakes. Democrats and outside groups threw millions into the contests, outspending Republicans 18-1 in Michigan, Nevada and Arizona, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm.

Democratic money also poured into races for state legislatures, which have gained prominence as they steer policy on issues such as abortion rights and voting access. Two Democratic super political action committees pledged to invest more than US$80 million (S$112 million) in six states; there was no similar organised effort on the Republican side.

In Michigan, Democrats appeared likely to flip both chambers of the Legislature, potentially bringing the state under unified Democratic control. That apparent success was the result of newly drawn districts by an independent commission that untangled decades of Republican gerrymandering.

While state legislative races are often driven by hyperlocal issues – traffic, roads, garbage pickup – Republicans who focused on the 2020 election fared poorly.

“The candidates obsessed with conspiracy theories and a national narrative were telling the voters in their district, ‘I’m not going to serve you,’” said Mr Daniel Squadron, a Democratic former state senator in New York and a founder of the States Project, a Democratic super PAC focused on state legislatures. “Candidates focused on what voters were concerned about – and sometimes that was democracy – were communicating that they were going to spend their time trying to improve lives.”

Despite the Democratic victories, Republicans maintain control of both chambers of the Legislature in Wisconsin and may still hold both chambers in Pennsylvania. NYT