'Deeply alarming' report finds almost one-third of Congress are 'election deniers'

21 May 2024

Four years ago, during the United States' 2020 presidential race, supporters of then-President Donald Trump accused "Real Time" host Bill Maher of "Trump derangement syndrome" when he predicted that Trump would not accept the election results if he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

But Trump, just as Maher predicted, refused to acknowledge that he lost the election. Now, in 2024, Trump is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and Congress — according to Associated Press (AP) reporters Nicholas Riccardi and Lisa Mascaro — is full of Republican lawmakers who have either falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen or won't commit to accepting the election results if Trump loses to Biden a second time in November.

In a report released on Tuesday, May 21, States United Action — a group that goes after election deniers — found that almost one-third of Congress members supported, in some fashion, Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

According to States United Action, that includes "151 election deniers" in the U.S. House of Representatives and "19 election deniers" in the U.S. Senate.

States United Action's Lizzie Ullmer told AP, "The public should have a real healthy dose of concern about the real risk of having people in power who've shown they're not willing to respect the will of the people."

Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University is sounding the alarm as well.

Weiser told AP, "This is deeply alarming. A democracy can only function if the participants commit to accepting the results of popular elections. That is it. That's the entire political system."

Riccardi and Mascaro cite specific examples of GOP lawmakers who haven't fully committed to accepting the 2024 presidential election results if Trump loses, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina). And House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), the AP reporters note, "helped organize Trump's failed legal challenge to Biden's win."

"States United's report details how successful election deniers have been in bolstering their congressional ranks," Riccardi and Mascaro explain. "It examines the results of congressional party primaries in the 10 states that have held them this year and found that in each state, at least one election denier has made it to the general election for a House or Senate seat. The report defines election deniers as people who falsely claimed Trump won in 2020, spread misinformation about that election or took steps to overturn it, or refused to concede a separate race."

The AP journalists add, "It finds that at least 67 will be on the ballot in the House in November, including 50 incumbents. Three will be running for the Senate — one of whom, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, is an incumbent."

Read the Associated Press' full report at this link.

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