Trump election denier makes startling admission after taking office

A Republican election official who previously called on President Donald Trump to use the Insurrection Act regarding the 2020 election has admitted that he has no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the North Carolina county that he currently manages.

James Davis, chairman of the Clay County Board of Elections, made the admission to NC Local reporter Ryan Oehrli, who revisited the exchange in an interview published Thursday by Vox.

Davis was one of the people who supported Trump and advanced the allegations of widespread election fraud after Trump had been defeated by Joe Biden in 2020. In a Facebook post he made in December 2020, Davis stated that "President Trump understates the massive voter fraud."

He went on to urge Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and to say that military courts should look into any alleged election misconduct and bring charges against those whom he claimed had conspired against the United States.

Yet when Davis became chairman of the election board in his county in 2025, he could not prove the far-reaching accusations in his own area.

"I don't know that now. I have no proof," Davis told NC Local when asked about widespread fraud in Clay County.

He stated that he had seen evidence of election fraud in general and dismissed the idea that he was an election denier. Moreover, according to Oehrli's reporting, he asserted that FBI agents had been responsible for inciting the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The fact that he has admitted it comes as some Republican officials who had earlier promoted theories about election fraud are now in positions that involve supervising voting procedures in North Carolina.

In 2025, Dave Boliek, who was the Republican State Auditor, appointed Davis to be chairman after changes to state law had shifted the power over county election board leadership from the governor to the auditor.

As a result, the Republicans gained control of the election boards in all 100 of North Carolina's counties.

As stated by NC Local, Davis is one of the 18 county election officials named by the Voting Rights Lab as election deniers.

Jay DeLancy, who is a member of the Lee County election board, has also come across difficulties in his efforts to remove voters that he believes are incorrectly registered.

DeLancy, who for a long time had described himself as a voter integrity activist, tried to have four names removed since he regarded them as duplicates, but the state officials prevented him from going ahead until there had been further review.

"Just too many lawyers," DeLancy complained.

Oehrli stated upon speaking to Vox that DeLancy had also taken part in a failed attempt to get Sunday voting abolished in Lee County.

DeLancy maintained that forcing election workers to work on Sunday would be a violation of the biblical commandment to keep the Sabbath; however, the state elections board rejected that proposal.

Oehrli stated that the officials he has investigated have so far had only a limited individual impact, even though they held positions responsible for overseeing election administration ahead of the November midterms.