In top races, Republicans try to stay quiet on Trump’s false 2020 claims

WAUKESHA, Wis. - In his run for the Republican nomination for senator in Ohio, businessman Bernie Moreno baselessly alleged that political insiders, big tech companies and the media rigged the 2020 election. But after he won the primary in March, Moreno declined to say whether he believed Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump, insisting voters wanted to talk about other issues.

A mirror-image shift has been underway in neighboring Michigan, where former congressman Mike Rogers is also avoiding discussion about the 2020 vote. Rogers had previously declared the election “free and fair” and compared Trump to a “gangster” for pressing Georgia election officials to find more votes for him. Now running for Senate with Trump’s endorsement, Rogers has tried to quickly move on when asked about those views in media interviews.

Two years ago, many of the highest-profile GOP candidates for top offices in swing states eagerly amplified Trump’s false election claims, telling voters the last election had been stolen and warning them the next one could be, too. That position turned out to be a turnoff to many swing-state voters, contributing to Republican defeats in important races for governor and other statewide offices in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Undeterred, Trump has followed the same election-denying approach as he runs for president this year, while also declining to say whether he will accept the results in 2024. He routinely makes false claims about elections in interviews and on social media and this month baselessly told supporters at a rally in suburban Milwaukee that “radical left Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020.”

But this time, many of the Republicans running alongside Trump in swing races are being far more ambiguous about their stance on 2020. Whether they have previously dismissed or embraced his claims, GOP nominees in some of the year’s most critical races are now evading the question and changing the topic. A number of them have steered clear of his most brazen allegations but tried to endear themselves to Trump’s supporters by questioning voting rules.

The dynamic reflects the bind confronting GOP candidates in competitive races: If they echo Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen, they could alienate swing voters whose support they will need in November. If they say it was decided fairly, they risk Trump turning his ire against them.

“When you have to seek Trump’s blessing, I think that’s where it becomes a little bit of a tightrope to walk,” said Jessica Taylor, who analyzes Senate races for the Cook Political Report.

Continuing to dodge the issue could be tough. There are still six months left in the campaign and candidates will face questions from their opponents, voters and the media about their views. Scholars have repeatedly warned of the dangers of embracing election lies, saying democracies depend on losing candidates accepting their defeats.

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, a Washington Post analysis of more than 500 GOP nominees for federal and state offices found that nearly 300 had embraced Trump’s false fraud claims or otherwise questioned the results. Biden and other Democrats responded by making their commitment to democracy a central theme on the campaign trail.

This year, many Republican nominees in deep red states or districts continue to parrot Trump’s false claims. Most of the 147 Republican senators and House members who formally objected to the 2020 results are running again and are expected to sail to reelection touting their doubts about elections in deep-red parts of the country.

Some candidates in competitive races have also cried foul. Kari Lake championed baseless claims about the 2020 election in her run for Arizona governor two years ago. She narrowly lost and continues to contest those results without evidence. Lake last year collaborated on a song claiming the 2020 election was stolen and in March told CNN she was trying to “look forward” but considered the 2020 election “rigged.”

But in other closely contested races, Republican candidates are largely downplaying 2020 so they can focus on issues they perceive to be more favorable, like the economy and immigration.

“If we step into the quicksand of relitigating 2020, we are undermining our own message and we are helping our opponents,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist in Michigan.

Trump made acceptance of false claims about 2020 a de facto litmus test for his endorsement in 2022, but has made more exceptions in this cycle. That has been particularly true in a few of the most competitive Senate races, where he has endorsed candidates like Rogers who have not repeated his falsehoods.

At the same time, Trump has continued to force 2020 to the forefront by misleadingly talking about how and why he lost, insisting his defeat was the result of a Democratic plot. At times, he has suggested without evidence this year’s election could be rigged.

While Trump’s own position is clear, some of the Republicans running down-ballot have shifted their stances depending on the circumstances or have left doubt as to what they really believe.

Mark Robinson, the Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina, said in a recently unearthed 2021 speech that Biden “stole the election.” At the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, he said he did not believe Biden’s vote totals.

But now that Robinson is the Republican nominee for governor, he has largely avoided talking about 2020. A spokesperson for Robinson did not answer whether the lieutenant governor still believes the 2020 race was stolen.

Kate Frauenfelder, a spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein, called Robinson’s past remarks “shameful and un-American.”

“North Carolina deserves a Governor who unequivocally defends our democracy and our right to vote,” she said in a written statement.

In Ohio, Moreno has staked out contrary positions. He acknowledged Trump’s loss on social media in the days after the election. But as he mounted a 2022 Senate bid, he deleted those posts.

Before dropping out of the race, he ran an ad saying, “President Trump says the election was stolen, and he’s right.” He won the GOP nomination for this year’s race but later deflected when CNN asked him about the 2020 election, saying voters were more interested in economic issues like the cost of meals at McDonald’s.

In response to questions for this story, a spokesperson for Moreno referred a reporter to a Hill article in which she said Moreno’s belief the election was stolen remained “unchanged.” The spokesperson would not elaborate.

Three years ago, Michigan’s Rogers had little tolerance for talk of a stolen election. In a Jan. 5, 2021, column for The Washington Post, he wrote that Trump “sounded more gangster than presidential” in his post-election phone call to Georgia officials in which the then-president encouraged them to “find” the votes necessary to secure his victory.

The next year, Republicans in Michigan nominated candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state who leaned into false claims about the last presidential election. All three lost by wide margins, leading some in the party to push for finding candidates with broader appeal.

With Rogers facing a GOP primary in August, he sought and won Trump’s endorsement in March. Since then, Rogers has not always been as direct as he was in the past about his views on the 2020 election.

In January, he told a Detroit News columnist that he expected cheating this fall and Republicans needed “an overwhelming win so there’s no question about our victory.” In a radio interview in April, he did not directly address whether he believes Biden won in 2020 other than to say he had “answered that a hundred times.” He quickly moved on to emphasize the importance of winning this fall.

Rogers helped introduce Trump at a rally in Freeland, Mich., this month. He didn’t mention 2020. A spokesperson for Rogers did not answer questions seeking clarification about his views.

The shift in Pennsylvania tracks the one in Michigan. Two years ago, Doug Mastriano, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania, embraced lies about the 2020 election. He lost by nearly 15 points.

This year’s race for Senate in Pennsylvania does not feature the same dynamic. Hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick wrote in a book last year that Trump told him he would need to say the last presidential election was stolen to win the 2022 GOP primary for Senate in Pennsylvania. McCormick refused and Trump three days later endorsed celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, according to McCormick’s book.

McCormick lost the primary to Oz by a tenth of a percentage point and Democrat John Fetterman went on to defeat Oz. McCormick is running for Senate this year against Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) - and this time has the endorsement of Trump even though McCormick has not claimed the 2020 election was rigged. A spokesperson for McCormick declined to comment.

Trump was also willing to endorse a Senate candidate who had not echoed his false fraud claims in another key Senate race, picking former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy over Rep. Matt Rosendale in Montana. Rosendale has touted his vote against certifying the 2020 results, while Sheehy has avoided publicly stating his views on the election. After Trump endorsed Sheehy, Rosendale dropped out. A spokesperson for Sheehy did not respond to a request for comment about his views on 2020.

In Nevada, Trump has not endorsed a candidate, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee is backing retired U.S. Army captain Sam Brown. In a run for Senate two years ago, Brown accused his primary opponent, Adam Laxalt, of doing too little to challenge the 2020 results as co-chairman of Trump’s Nevada campaign.

Brown lost that primary and has since tempered his tone on the 2020 election. He told the Nevada Independent he was “pretty confident in our elections” and didn’t want to “relitigate” the debate over the 2020 election. In a statement to The Post, Brown did not back off those comments.