MI, GA, PA, and IL GOP Gov Candidates Drag Baseless 2020 Election Denial into 2026 Campaigns

MI, GA, PA, and IL GOP Gov Candidates Drag Baseless 2020 Election Denial into 2026 Campaigns

New reporting this week revealed how Republican candidates for governor in critical swing states are continuing to sow doubt about the 2020 election on the campaign trail, dragging along a tired old playbook of conspiracy theories and lies.

Two-time statewide loser John James in Michigan desperately spread election conspiracies at a recent event, saying, “Who here believes the president won in 2020? All right, well, if you do, I outperformed President Trump in 2020, and there are five judges that agree with you…”

Rick Jackson in Georgia doubled down on his support for Donald Trump’s push to overturn the 2020 election, saying, “That was totally ridiculous what happened in 2020 and our people really let us down.” Jackson is facing Burt Jones, a fake elector, who was pivotal to the effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Unearthed social media posts from Stacy Garrity in Pennsylvania show her “praising the violent rioters” who “broke windows, assaulted police officers, and defecated in hallways,” at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in an attempt to overturn the election. She repeatedly referred to the rioters as “patriots” and said she was “proud” of them.

Additionally, when Darren Bailey in Illinois was pressed about the results of the 2020 election, he refused to admit that Trump lost, instead saying to “get over it” and that it “doesn’t matter anymore.” 

Read more about how Republicans running for governor are still spreading baseless election conspiracies: 

American Journal News: GOP Michigan candidates still claim Trump won 2020 election 

• Two Republicans running for Michigan governor are still claiming the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump.
• Nesbitt flat-out said, “Trump won Michigan” in 2020. James, who ran for the U.S. Senate that year, went a step further, implying the election was stolen from him as well.

• “Who here believes the president won in 2020? All right, well, if you do, I outperformed President Trump in 2020, and there are five judges that agree with you…” 

Politico: 3 things we learned on the ground in Georgia 

• At the event in Homer, Jackson was pressed during a question-and-answer session about whether he thought the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump in Georgia.
• He was adamant that it had been: “That was totally ridiculous what happened in 2020 and our people really let us down.”

American Journal News: Garrity praised rioters, questioned 2020 election in unearthed posts

• Newly unearthed Facebook posts show Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election and praising the violent rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
• The posts suggest that Garrity, who is now the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, was more sympathetic to the rioters and their cause than previously known…. The rioters broke windows, assaulted police officers, and defecated in hallways. 

• “I am proud of our Patriots,” Garrity said.

WGN Radio: Darren Bailey on 2020 election, new Bears stadium, ‘millionaires tax’

• REPORTER: Bailey would not say whether he believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen to elect Democrat Joe Biden. This is the same sort of question that the nominee for the Fed chairmanship is being asked on Capitol Hill right now. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? I don’t know how hard that is to answer, but it’s become a bit of a litmus test these days. What’s your best answer to that question?
• DARREN BAILEY: Well, my best answer to the question is that get over it. They’re using this to try to trip us up, because anytime we have an opportunity to begin to unify as a nation, to begin to unify as a state, they keep going back to this nonsense. It is absolutely 100% irrelevant. It doesn’t matter anymore.  

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