By Joe Miller
This Week: Election Lies Dominate As MAGA Republicans Elevate Election Deniers in the Midwest
MAGA lies and conspiracies about the 2020 election continue to shape the GOP agenda. On Monday, Georgia extremist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a “national divorce,” separating red states from blue states. This destructive, extreme rhetoric threatens to upend core principles of democratic governance and marks a dangerous escalation from the far-right. Hours later, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy revealed that he gave Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson exclusive access to more than 41,000 of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, exposing confidential House protocols that could pose a significant security risk. Fox is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, and court documents recently revealed that the network deliberately aired false election conspiracy theories and feared letting Trump speak on air during the insurrection.
The Dominion lawsuit is just one of several ongoing legal developments attempting to hold Trump and his MAGA allies accountable. In Georgia, a top juror revealed that the Fulton County grand jury has recommended indictments for multiple people on a range of charges over Trump and his allies’ efforts to interfere with the 2020 election results. Nearly 20 people are known to have been named targets of District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation.
As MAGA Republicans face facts in court, the GOP continues to reward election deniers and extremists. In Michigan, MAGA conspiracy theorist and failed Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo became chair of the state GOP over the weekend, beating fellow election denier Matt DePerno after three rounds of voting. Karamo was one of the most extreme candidates running for statewide office in 2022, holding deep ties to the QAnon movement and making outlandish claims about “satanic influence” in government.
In Wisconsin, election denier Dan Kelly advanced in the primary election for an open seat on the state Supreme Court seat last night in the wake of new campaign finance reports revealing that Kelly was paid $120,000 by the GOP to advise on Trump’s fake elector scheme in 2020. The high-stakes race over the court’s swing vote will be held on April 4, and will determine the fate of abortion rights, gerrymandered maps, gubernatorial appointments, and possibly even the 2024 election results in Wisconsin.
Elsewhere, other election deniers are also working to subvert the will of voters:
In Georgia, a fake elector who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results is spearheading a multi-city movement in the Atlanta suburbs to take over local elections from Fulton County. Meanwhile, the Nevada state Senate is hearing a proposal to make fake electoral certificates a felony in order to prevent a repeat of the Trump campaign’s 2020 fake elector scheme.
In Arizona, newly released documents revealed that former Attorney General Mark Brnovich concealed records debunking election fraud claims, publicizing an incomplete account of his office’s probe of the 2020 election in Phoenix-based Maricopa County. Those same election lies are only fueling even more election conspiracy theories among key local election administrators in Cochise County, many of whom refused to certify the midterm election results in November.
And finally, in Pennsylvania, new evidence suggests that unequal election policies disenfranchised some Pennsylvania voters in 2022. Threats to democracy are ongoing, and the nationwide assaults on our right to vote in free and fair elections continue. Join us on Friday, February 24th at 1:30pm ET as our experts and community leaders discuss ongoing voter suppression efforts!
