Several races in the US midterm elections will have far-reaching implications for American democracy. Republican candidates in several states who questioned the 2020 election results, or actively worked to overturn them, are running for positions in which they would wield enormous power over how votes are cast and counted.

According to a Washington Post tally, 291 Republicans – a majority of the party’s nominees this cycle – had questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

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They are seeking positions as governors, who are responsible for establishing electoral laws. They are vying for positions as secretaries of state, who supervise voting and ballot tally. They are running for attorneys general, who are in charge of investigating allegations of fraud and handling litigation in high-stakes election suits.

They are attempting to be elected as members of Congress, who vote every four years to certify the presidential vote. They are contending to become state legislators, who have the power to enact voting regulations, conduct inquiries, and, in accordance with some outlandish legal theories, attempt to prevent the certification of presidential electors.

50 candidates running for Congress, governor & secretary of state

According to a FiveThirtyEight tracker, 50 candidates for Congress, governor, and secretary of state are running in contests that Cook Political Report rates as competitive and have partially disputed the outcome of the 2020 election. 31 are running for the House, five for the Senate, five for secretary of state, and nine for governor.

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Mark Finchem in Arizona, Jim Marchant in Nevada, and Kim Crockett in Minnesota are just a few of the ardent electoral deniers running for secretary of state in crucial swing states. They are all Republicans. Additionally, some governor candidates in swing states, such as Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and Kari Lake in Arizona, have made election skepticism the center-piece of their campaigns.

Numerous Republicans who have cast doubt on the 2020 results are running for safe seats and are all but certain to win, while hundreds more are running in competitive elections. This includes many incumbents in the House and Senate who supported the decertification of the electors in Arizona and Pennsylvania following the attack on January 6.