Some MAGA Republicans fear they’re too 'focused on conspiracies' to win elections

Republican lawmakers have spent the greater part of the year drafting controversial pieces of legislation influenced by former President Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

While the vast majority of Trump loyalists were in support of his efforts to overturn the election, some are now concerned that the whole conspiracy has gone a bit too far, reports Politico. Hogan Gidley, who worked as the 2019 - 2020 Press Secretary for Trump's White House, has worked to distance his group from those that continue to circulate false claims.

"People are going to do whatever they want, and I can't answer for any of those other groups," said Gidley.

Gidley, who is now overseeing the Center for Election Integrity at the right-leaning America First Policy Institute also expressed concern about how ongoing audits, discussions of "machine rigging" and plots of foreign election intervention could lead to a decrease in voter turnout.

"But as it relates to election integrity and voter protection, it is vital that we help states get these simple, popular security mechanisms in place to ensure honesty for the 2022 midterms," Gidley said, adding, "I want to make sure that the data we gather and the information we share is built on solid ground as opposed to sinking sand."

Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) also expressed concern about the ongoing conspiracy theories and how they are taking away from the party's political goals.

"When my fellow Republicans are focused on the wrong things, when they're focused on conspiracies about secret algorithms on voting machines, and they're focused on ideas there is a group of ballots printed in China snuck in the back door of the board of elections — all those things are easily disproven," said LaRose. "But a focus on those things distracts from what I consider the real concerns about election integrity."

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams (R), who appeared before the Senate to give his testimony on Tuesday, October 26, also detailed how serious and damaging misinformation could be for the Republican Party.

"That's the biggest mistake Republicans are making in state legislatures and Democrats are making in Congress," Adams said. "When you do this on a one party basis, the other side thinks you're trying to cheat them, and you can't make policy that way."

While Trump is still verbally expressing his disapproval of the election outcome and making efforts to advance his political agenda, some Republicans believe it's time to focus more on the future. Speaking at "Meet the Press," Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) made his stance clear.

"I'm of the view that the best thing that President Trump could do to help us win majorities in 2022 is talk about the future," Blunt said. "[B]etter off to talk about the future than to focus on the past in every election."