Election deniers lose races for governor in key US swing states
State leaders can hold significant sway over election administration, with implications for the 2028 presidential race.
Key points
- Five Republican election deniers lost governor races in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia.
- Biggs and Tiffany voted to overturn the 2020 results; James called the election "rigged and manipulated".
- Trump said he was "absolutely willing" to accept the midterm results and would work with Democrats.
Five Republican candidates who had questioned or tried to block Joe Biden's 2020 election win lost their races for governor in key battleground states in Tuesday's US midterm elections, Al Jazeera reported. The defeated candidates were Congressman Andy Biggs in Arizona, Congressman John James in Michigan, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity in Pennsylvania, Congressman Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin and billionaire Rick Jackson in Georgia.
What the candidates did
Biggs and Tiffany voted to overturn the 2020 results as members of the US House of Representatives in January 2021, and both signed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. James acknowledged Biden's victory after the 2020 election but reversed his position in June, telling podcaster Benny Johnson the election was "rigged and manipulated". Garrity appeared at a Pennsylvania rally on January 5, 2021, calling on state lawmakers to decertify the results, a day before Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Jackson had called Biden's win "totally ridiculous" and criticised Georgia officials for not complying with Trump's demands to "find" extra votes. Tiffany, Garrity and Jackson have since acknowledged that Biden won; Biggs and James have not, and Al Jazeera said it had not heard back from their offices.
Our people really let us down
— Rick Jackson
Why the races matter
The results are likely to have significant implications for the 2028 presidential race, as Trump is ineligible for re-election under the US Constitution and it is unclear who will succeed him as the Republican standard-bearer. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have all swung between the parties in recent elections and will play critical roles in 2028.
Governors in some states play a major role in voting access, election administration and redrawing congressional maps. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Wednesday he would not call a special session to redraw the state's congressional maps before Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms is sworn in. Trump told The New York Times on Tuesday night he was "absolutely willing" to accept the midterm results and said of the Democrats, who retook both chambers of Congress: "We'll probably work something out."
