Nearly half of Republican candidates for Congress or top state offices have used social media to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2024 election, according to a Washington Post analysis, highlighting a pervasive effort within the GOP to undermine public trust in the vote ahead of Nov. 5.
From Nov. 9, 2022, to Oct.11, at least 236 Republican candidates posted or amplified a range of falsehoods or misinformation about election malfeasance. Many candidates baselessly accused Democrats of trying to sway the election through former president Donald Trump’s court cases or by registering noncitizens to vote. Others falsely likened Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination to a “coup” or promoted misinformation about voter fraud.
The rhetoric, which often parrots Trump’s election-related falsehoods, could help lay the groundwork for Republicans to challenge any election outcome they dislike by alleging the results are tainted or fraudulent.
“Even after the horrific sights of January 6, endorsing Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud had become a litmus test for any Republican who hopes to secure political seats,” said Yotam Ophir, an expert on political misinformation at the University at Buffalo. “Leaders cannot govern if the public fails to agree on the importance of facts and evidence, and by endorsing Trump’s election falsehoods, Republicans are breaking away from the values and norms of democracy, without which it cannot survive.”
Polling shows that most Americans trust their local and state officials to run fair and reliable elections. But Republican messaging that challenges the legitimacy of elections appears to have resonated with the GOP base, a considerable portion of which wrongly believes that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election because of voter fraud.