Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., addresses attendees during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit on July 23, 2022, in Tampa, Florida.
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
More than 370 Republican candidates on the ballot denied or questioned the 2020 election results.
Certain Republicans could have major impacts on certifying the 2024 election in battleground states.
So far, at least 165 election deniers have won their races.
Hundreds of Republican candidates on the 2022 midterm ballot have denied or have refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.
More than 370 Republican candidates for the US Senate, House, and statewide office have denied or questioned the 2020 results, according to a New York Times analysis published in mid-October.
Of the election deniers up for election, at least 165 have won their elections as of Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. ET, according to Insider’s elections partner Decision Desk HQ.
Eighty-six election deniers have lost their races as of 10:30 a.m. ET. Notably, two election-denying GOP candidates for governor — Tudor Dixon in Michigan and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania — have lost their races.
Election deniers who have won their races
High-profile Republicans who have won their 2022 midterm races include Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul previously said the election was stolen in “many ways.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch ally of Donald Trump and an avid 2020 election denier, was re-elected for her House seat in Georgia. Greene fueled election fraud rumors on Twitter while voters were still casting their 2022 midterm votes.
—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 8, 2022
Matt Gaetz, who won his re-election bid for the House in Florida, has also boosted claims that there was fraud in the 2020 election.
Governor Ron DeSantis will serve another term in Florida. Although he only picked up a last-minute endorsement from Trump, the former president said he cast his ballot in DeSantis’ favor.
Election deniers ran in every region of the country and in nearly every state nationwide, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Election deniers who could impact 2024 battleground states if elected
Out of the election deniers on the ballot, 171 were favored to win and 46 were in races considered competitive by election watchers. The rest were considered unlikely to win.
Many of the candidates are running for statewide offices that could exercise sway over the 2024 election.
Kari Lake, the Donald Trump-endorsed GOP nominee for governor in Arizona has openly claimed that President Joe Biden was not the winner of the 2020 election. Lake has said she would not have certified the presidential election results and has called for her opponent, Democratic Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs, to be arrested for doing so. At press time, Lake was lagging behind Hobbs.
Oath Keeper and candidate for Arizona Secretary of State, Mark Finchem, has called for ballots to be hand counted and wants to give Republican authority figures the power to reject election results. Similarly, as of Wednesday morning, Finchem is trailing.
Candidates like Blake Masters, who is running for a Senate seat in Arizona, and Sarah Palin, who is running for a House seat in Alaska, could play a major role in objecting to the electoral vote count following the 2024 presidential election.
Some deniers suffered defeat
Tudor Dixon, the GOP nominee for governor in Michigan has fueled election fraud conspiracy theories and has refused to commit to accepting the 2020 election results. On Tuesday night, Decision Desk HQ called the race for Dixon’s opponent, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more election results are decided.