At least one election denier has advanced to the November ballot in every state to hold congressional primaries so far this year, according to a new tracker from States United Action.
The nonpartisan nonprofit’s tracking tool found that, in the 13 states that have held congressional primaries as of Monday, 70 election deniers have advanced as candidates to the general election.
Three of those are on the ballot for the Senate, and the rest are running for the House, according to the report. Roughly three-quarters of the total count moving past the primaries are incumbents.
“The Congress we elect in November will certify the results of the 2024 presidential election and the American people need to understand what that means for our democracy,” said Lizzie Ulmer, States United Action’s senior vice president of strategy and communications, in a statement.
“In 2020, more than 120 members of Congress voted against the will of the people — and those people and others who share similarly dangerous views on our elections are running for positions of power over our votes this year,” Ulmer said.
States United Action qualifies a candidate as an election denier if they meet at least one of a handful of criteria that include having falsely claimed that former President Trump won the 2020 election, “spread lies or promoted conspiracies” about the 2020 election’s legitimacy or refused to certify the 2020 results.
The tracker also tallies that 170 lawmakers labeled election deniers are currently serving in Congress, representing voters in 36 states.
This year, Trump is running to get back into the White House — and he’s continued to tout claims along the campaign trail of widespread fraud in his loss to President Biden last cycle, though those allegations have been repeatedly dismissed and debunked. He has been indicted twice since leaving office in connection with efforts to remain in power.
In Wisconsin earlier this month, Trump declined to commit to accepting the state’s November results.
“If everything’s honest, I’d gladly accept the results,” Trump told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”
