Extremist Candidates on the Ballot
Dozens of election-deniers are running for public office across the country in November. In this memo we briefly highlight the candidates and elected bodies that pose the greatest threat to a free and fair election in 2024, and the potential implications should they win. Note that even though Republican Senate candidates such as Herschel Walker in Georgia (who has a strong chance of winning) and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire (who is less likely to win) are horrifying, their ability to impact our electoral system is much more limited than the candidates outlined below. Most, if not all, of these candidates were endorsed by Donald Trump and have effectively sworn loyalty to him.
Candidates you’ve likely heard of…
Mark Finchem (GOP nominee for Arizona secretary of state)
Finchem, a QAnon-linked election conspiracy theorist who attended the January 6th insurrection, is a leading driver of baseless claims about fraud in Arizona. He is part of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, whose aim is to work with anti-democratic secretary of state GOP candidates in an attempt to thwart the will of the people in elections. Finchem was also a main proponent of the Cyber Ninjas audit. Should he win, Finchem would have control over Arizona elections and significant power to meddle with the system by rewriting election procedures and rules, manipulating the certification of election equipment, overhauling staffing, withholding funding, and changing the rules for candidate ballot qualification. He could also use his bully pulpit to undermine confidence in elections and call for endless audits that would drag out elections. Finchem has said publicly that he would decertify the results of the 2020 election (even though no such process exists in law).
Kristina Karamo (GOP nominee for Michigan secretary of state)
Karamo, a QAnon-linked election conspiracy theorist, is part of the America First Secretary of State Coalition. She believes that the 2020 election was stolen and that Dominion voting machines should be removed from Michigan elections. Karamo filed multiple affidavits in support of litigation (ultimately dismissed) seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Michigan. She has proposed voter role purges, bans on mail-in voting, and other measures that would restrict voting in the state. Should she win, Karamo would have control over Michigan elections and significant power to meddle with the system.
Kari Lake (GOP nominee for Arizona governor)
Lake, a former television news anchor, has stated that she would not have certified Joe Biden’s presidential victory in 2020. She has also called for her opponent, current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, to be imprisoned. If Lake becomes governor, she would be very unlikely to certify a Democratic presidential victory in 2024. Both houses of the state legislature are currently in Republican hands, so unless control of either chamber changes hands, Republicans would have unified control of Arizona state government.
Doug Mastriano (GOP nominee for Pennsylvania governor)
Mastriano, who as a state senator tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania, would as governor have the power to appoint the Secretary of the Commonwealth to oversee the state’s elections. Mastriano has indicated that he has already selected someone for the job who shares his views, though he has not disclosed whom. Mastriano would be very unlikely to certify a Democratic presidential victory in 2024. Given that he has pledged to require people to re-register to vote, discussed decertifying voting machines, and threatened to repeal vote-by-mail laws, Mastriano’s election could make free and fair elections a thing of the past in Pennsylvania. Both houses of the state legislature are currently in Republican hands, so unless control of either chamber changes hands, Republicans would have unified control of Pennsylvania state government.
Candidates you may not have heard of…
Matthew DePerno (GOP nominee for Michigan attorney general)
DePerno is currently under criminal investigation for attempts to seize and tamper with voting machines following the 2020 election. Needless to say, it would be deeply problematic for someone who has demonstrated contempt for the law to be in charge of law enforcement in the state.
Tudor Dixon (GOP nominee for Michigan governor)
Dixon, a conservative media host, has spread conspiracy theories and repeated Donald Trump’s baseless accusations about election irregularities in 2020. She has also said she believes Trump won Michigan in 2020. State law requires the governor to certify electors chosen based on the certification ascertained by the Board of State Canvassers, so Dixon would be limited in her ability to meddle in the certification process if she wins. That said, it is unclear what happens in the event of a tie vote at the state board. If the governor were not to certify the election, Michigan’s electoral votes would likely not be counted in the presidential contest and could help send the election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans would likely win in the one-vote-per-state count. Both houses of the state legislature are currently in Republican hands, so unless control of either chamber changes hands, Republicans would have unified control of Michigan state government if Dixon wins.
Thomas Hodgson (Sheriff of Bristol, Massachusetts)
Hodgson, who is running for re-election this year, is a long-time incumbent sheriff. He is a member of Protect America Now, a group that has joined forces with True the Vote in a new partnership “to help protect American elections” by providing local sheriffs with information, resources, and tools to have “real-time eyes” on voting in their county. While Massachusetts is not a presidential battleground state, Hodgson is one of the most extreme sheriffs in the nation and his involvement in election administration would be deeply problematic.
Chuck Jenkins (Sheriff of Frederick, Maryland)
Jenkins, who is running for re-election this year, is a long-time incumbent and is also a member of Protect America Now.
Joe Lombardo (GOP nominee for Nevada governor)
The current Clark County Sheriff, Lombardo has focused on election security as a top issue, though he has acknowledged that Biden was legitimately elected president and that there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute voter fraud in Nevada. If elected, Lombardo has said he intends to end universal vote-by-mail.
Jim Marchant (GOP nominee for Nevada secretary of state)
Marchant is a member of the America First Secretary of State Coalition and has been leading a state and local push to dump machine tabulators and count results by hand only, which election experts say would be costlier, more time-consuming, and less accurate. He has vowed to fight to roll back Nevada’s switch to a predominately vote-by-mail system and has said that if elected he would look into wiping out the voter rolls completely and having everyone re-register. The combination of these and other moves would dramatically undermine election integrity and voting access in the state.
Tim Michels (GOP nominee for Wisconsin governor)
Michels has vowed to eliminate the Wisconsin Elections Commission, a bipartisan organization that oversees elections in the state. In such an instance the state legislature could vest singular (and discretionary) authority to determine elections with the governor, secretary of state, or even itself. Both houses of the state legislature are currently in Republican hands, so unless control of either chamber changes hands, Republicans would have unified control of Wisconsin state government should Michels win. The legislature has already been playing constitutional hardball in the state; without any check on its power, the state would become much more hostile to democracy.
Bob Songer (Sheriff of Klickitat, Washington)
Songer, who is running for re-election this year, is a member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a group that believes the county and not the state or federal governments should control all land within its borders, and that the county sheriff is the ultimate law enforcement authority in the U.S., not the President. CSPOA has also teamed up with True the Vote, and the association’s founder, Sheriff Richard Mack, has encouraged sheriffs to investigate election fraud and more aggressively police future voting. Songer, who has numerous ties to far-right and paramilitary groups, is active in this effort.
Key state legislative battles to be aware of…
- Picking up one seat in either the Arizona state Senate or House of Representatives would end unchecked right-wing control of the legislature, which could be key for protecting the presidential election in 2024 if Kari Lake becomes governor.
- Democrats are at risk of losing one or both chambers of the Maine legislature; given that the governor’s race is also competitive, Maine could potentially go from being a state in which Democrats have full control of government to one in which Republicans do. The state’s electoral votes may be in jeopardy in such a scenario.
