Candidates who questioned the fairness of the electoral process in the United States, many of whom endorsed the false rhetoric repeated by Donald Trump that there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election, performed poorly in the midterm elections held on Tuesday (3) and will lose representation in public positions in the country from next year onwards.
With the investigation still underway in some states, politicians who have already echoed conspiratorial speeches related to the electoral system will have at least 41 fewer seats in Congress and in American state positions in 2027 compared to the representation they have in 2026.
The survey was carried out by States United Action, an organization formed by former state and federal employees that defines itself as non-partisan and says it is dedicated to free elections.
Candidates from this group, called "electoral deniers" by the organization, suffered significant defeats in their bids for positions whose duties include organizing and monitoring elections. Of the 30 disputes defined for governor, attorney general and secretary of state until Thursday (5), 21 (70% of the total) ended in defeats for candidates who had already questioned the results of the polls.
The performance is a reflection of the blue wave, the overwhelming victory of the Democrats over the Republicans in the midterms, as the election is known. It also indicates the voter's rejection of this conspiratorial discourse.
"The results represent a major setback for the election denialist movement, but the threat to democracy did not disappear overnight," said United States Action research director Kelly Rader, according to a statement released by the organization. "Election deniers across the country still occupy various positions of power."
Candidates described as denialists had frustrating results, especially in the disputes for secretary of state, a position that, in many regions, has responsibility for electoral administration. Of the six representatives of this group who contested the elections, five (83%) were defeated, according to a survey by States United Action.
In the races for governor, 16 candidates considered denialists were in the electoral race. According to the American organization, 11 of them (69%) lost. Among the nine candidates for state attorney general, five (56%) were defeated in contests with defined results.
The three positions are important for the functioning of American institutions. Governors can influence state policies related to the electoral process, attorneys general act in the legal defense of votes, and secretaries of state often supervise the organization of elections.
In congressional races, candidates classified as denialists also performed poorly. In the Chamber, until the last update, they had won 89 of the 435 disputes with defined results, equivalent to 20.4% of the total. In the Senate, deniers had triumphed in 5 of the 35 completed disputes, or 14.2%.
Considering the 470 seats up for grabs in both Houses of Congress, the candidates identified by the organization had won 94, equivalent to 20% of the total. In the current legislature, the organization has 162 representatives from this group.
One of the representatives of this group who ended up defeated at the polls is Republican Jim Marchant, known for spreading conspiracy theories about the American electoral system and who ran for the position of secretary of state of Nevada, responsible for supervising elections in the state.
During the campaign, he defended a reformulation of the voting system, with proposals that included the end of universal voting by mail. Last Tuesday, he was defeated by Democrat Cisco Aguilar, who won re-election.
In the race for governor, Republican Andy Biggs, a Trump ally who challenged the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election and voted against validating the results in the state, ended up defeated by Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona, where the current president won in the 2024 White House race.
Electoral denialism is an ineffective strategy for winning votes, states United Action. According to the organization's research, candidates who questioned the result of the 2020 elections performed poorly at the polls: in 2022, they received 2.3 to 3.7 percentage points less than they would have obtained if they had not campaigned with this speech.
After the midterms, Trump admitted his party's defeat and said he was willing to work with the opposition. The speech clashes with his stance after his defeat in the 2020 election, when he said, without presenting evidence, that there was fraud to favor Democrat Joe Biden, his rival at the time.
Although in smaller numbers, denialist candidates also won victories. In the races for governor, politicians classified in this group by States United Action triumphed in five states: Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Idaho and Tennessee.
