Two Republicans who lost their Senate races refuse to concede

MADISON, Wis. - Two Republican Senate candidates are refusing to concede after losing, and their allies are raising questions about how the election was conducted in a pair of swing states Donald Trump won.

In Wisconsin, Eric Hovde said he was considering seeking a recount in his loss to Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and cast doubt on election patterns that experts called ordinary. In Arizona, Kari Lake has not conceded to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, just as she refused to concede when she lost the 2022 race for governor. Her campaign called it “hard to believe” that Lake lost to Gallego, but Lake appeared to acknowledge she had come up short in a video message released Wednesday night.

Four years ago, many Republicans embraced Trump’s brand of denialism when he stoked far-fetched theories to try to undo his loss of the presidency. Now, they are largely staying silent amid scattered false claims of rigged elections in downballot races - and they’re calling on Sen. Bob Casey (D) to concede that he narrowly lost in Pennsylvania.

Hovde’s and Lake’s allies, meanwhile, are trying to get their supporters to doubt the results in their races but not Trump’s victory in their states. Trump won Arizona by nearly 6 percentage points and Wisconsin by about 1 percentage point.

Challenging election results is “just now part of our discourse,” said Trey Grayson, a Republican who from 2004 to 2011 oversaw elections as Kentucky’s secretary of state and now works with nonprofit groups focused on democracy issues and election administration. “That’s, I think, the world that Donald Trump brought us.”

Many Democrats have castigated Hovde and Lake as sore losers while maintaining they still have a shot at claiming victory in the Senate race in Pennsylvania even though the Associated Press has projected Republican David McCormick as the winner. With some ballots still being counted, McCormick leads Casey by about a third of a percentage point, a level that will trigger an automatic recount.

If McCormick’s victory is confirmed, Republicans will control the Senate, holding 53 seats compared with 47 held by Democrats and independents. Republicans are on track to narrowly control the House, but some races could be decided by less than 1 percentage point, and the losers could demand recounts.

In Wisconsin, Hovde sent mixed messages during his run for Senate about what he thought of how the state conducts its elections. In April, he said he did not believe the 2020 election was stolen but questioned how many nursing home residents voted because he believed “almost nobody in a nursing home” is capable of voting. Months later, he urged his supporters to observe ballot drop boxes around-the-clock; few heeded his call.

The day before the election, Hovde said he would accept the results, echoing comments he’d made a month earlier. “We have to stop, every time one side loses an election, saying the election was stolen,” he said at a stop in Milwaukee in October.

But a week after he lost, Hovde in an online video questioned how the election was conducted and said he was considering seeking a recount. According to unofficial results, Hovde lost by about 29,000 votes out of 3.4 million ballots cast, or about 1 percentage point. Results are expected to be finalized next week, and Hovde will have three days after that to seek a recount.

Overturning a result of that size would be extremely difficult. Trump lost the state in 2020 by a smaller margin, and he failed to change the outcome after demanding a recount in the state’s two most populous counties.

In his video, Hovde complained about Milwaukee’s final results being tallied at 4 a.m., even though a late count was expected and followed state law. Republicans who control the legislature in recent years have blocked legislation that would have sped up the tally. Hovde also vented about the number of people who registered to vote at the polls on Election Day and the margins he lost by in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold.

In a statement, the Milwaukee Election Commission called Hovde’s accusations meritless and said it had “conducted a fair, accurate, and secure election that fully protects voter rights and preserves the democratic process.”

Some Republicans complained publicly about Hovde’s characterization of the vote tally. “Stop trying to erode trust in our elections (and I say that as someone who supported Hovde). That grift needs to stop!” Jim Villa, who worked closely with GOP former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, wrote in an online post in response to Hovde.

Others rushed to help Hovde. Conservative Milwaukee radio host Dan O’Donnell called for a “full and thorough investigation” of the election. Conservative activist Jefferson Davis told supporters in an email they “must stand by to help Eric if he decides to challenge the results.”

Soon after posting the video, Hovde acknowledged he had lost in a radio interview but did not concede. “It’s the most painful loss I’ve ever experienced,” he said.

Democrats called Hovde’s comments about the election baseless and said he needed to concede. “Eric Hovde has stooped as low as a politician can go: sowing doubt about our very democracy,” Baldwin spokesman Andrew Mamo said in a statement.

In Arizona, Lake trails Gallego by more than 2 percentage points with some votes yet to be counted, according to unofficial results. Lake did not concede in an online video Wednesday, but she also did not question the results and suggested she would move on. “These memories we made together will never go away, they will grow sweeter over time, and I will never stop fighting for the state I love,” she said.

On Election Day, Lake for the first time publicly said she “will accept the results of the election.” She has kept a low profile since then, but her campaign said Tuesday it was “hard to believe” voters had chosen Gallego over Lake in a response to a social media post from a user who claimed that “Arizona cheated Kari Lake - AGAIN.”

In other posts, Lake’s campaign questioned Arizona’s vote-counting policies. And Lake stood in solidarity with Hovde after he posted his video criticizing how Wisconsin ran its election. She reposted his video, writing, “Praying for you, @EricHovde. I’ve been there.”

In Pennsylvania, the narrative runs in the other direction, with Republicans criticizing Casey for not conceding and Democrats holding out hope the last ballots to be counted will shift the outcome in the race.

As of Thursday, McCormick was leading by about 25,000 votes out of nearly 7 million ballots cast. That’s just below the 0.5 point margin that triggers an automatic recount. Casey has said he will not concede until every vote is tallied.

“This democratic process must be allowed to play out to determine the result of this election,” Casey campaign manager Tiernan Donohue said in a statement.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt (R) announced Wednesday that once counties are done counting the remaining ballots, election officials must begin a recount that needs to be finished by Nov. 26.

“There is no path for Bob Casey to be leading heading into the recount; the math is simply not there for him,” said Mark Harris, a McCormick campaign strategist. “Recounts do not change outcomes of this magnitude. … There is a zero percent chance that the outcome of this race is going to change.”

Among the remaining ballots are provisional ballots, which voters may cast on Election Day if they showed up at the wrong polling place, had their mail ballot disqualified or were unable for another reason to cast a regular ballot. Provisional ballots are set aside so election officials can later determine on a case-by-case basis whether they should be counted.

How Pennsylvania counts ballots has been heavily litigated this year, and legal challenges to the state’s policies are ongoing. In the last week, Republicans have filed new lawsuits related to halting the counting of certain ballots.

Republicans are pressuring Casey to concede. A Republican group began airing an ad in the state this week calling Casey and Democrats “sore losers.”

“They’re denying the results and trying to force an unnecessary recount using your tax dollars,” the ad says.

Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) initially did not invite McCormick to the new senator orientation in Washington this week, saying the race hadn’t been decided. But Schumer changed course after coming under attack from Republicans, and McCormick attended on Wednesday.