Liz Cheney warns against ‘grave threat’ of election-denying candidates on midterm ballots

Republican US Rep Liz Cheney has warned that the vast number of candidates who have refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election pose a grave threat to democracy.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on 23 October, the Wyoming congresswoman – who lost a GOP primary to a candidate who falsely claimed the election was “rigged” – said she refuses to support or vote for candidates who cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

“No one of any party should be voting for people who are election deniers,” she said.

A majority of Republican nominees on midterm election ballots this fall for races in the House of Representatives, Senate and key statewide offices have rejected or questioned 2020 results, fuelled by conspiracy theories and Donald Trump’s spurious challenges in states that he lost.

Democracy advocacy group States United Action, which has closely tracked the progress of election-denying candidates across the US, found that at least 18 of 26 races for governor this year include at least one candidate who has cast doubt on the election’s legitimacy.

One-third of all races for attorney general include at least one such candidate, and 12 out of 27 races for secretary of state include candidates who have refused to accept the outcome of that election.

An election denier holding those critical state offices could oversee significant changes to election rules, including certifying votes, asserting partisan control over electoral administration, and limiting ballot access.

In Arizona, a swing state that Mr Biden won by just 12,000 votes, that could have profound implications for the whole country in 2024.

All three GOP candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state in Arizona are among the most prominent election deniers in the country.

Ms Cheney said that Arizona candidates Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and Mark Finchem, who is running for secretary of state, have said “we’ve looked at all the facts, we’ve looked at the results of the election in 2020, we’ve looked at the law, we’ve looked at the fact that the courts all ruled against Donald Trump, we’ve looked at all the audits and recounts – we’re willing to ignore all of that and we are saying we would not have certified that election.”

“They’re telling you they’ll only certify an election they’ll agree with,” the congresswoman added. “There’s not much graver threat to democracy that you can imagine than that.”