Ahead of Election Day, HBO’s Bill Maher sounded a doleful note about the future of democracy.
"Democracy is on the ballot and unfortunately it's going to lose. And once it's gone, it's gone," Maherlamented Friday on his show "Real Time." He predicted a 2024 presidential election in which former President Trump once again loses but will be able to successfully overturn the result with the help of Republicans elected to positions of authority in overseeing elections.
“This really is the crossing the Rubicon moment when the election deniers are elected, which is often how countries slide into authoritarianism, not with tanks in the streets but by electing the people who then have no intention of ever giving it back,” Maher said. “The Republican up for Wisconsin governor just said if he’s elected, ‘Republicans will never lose another election.’ This is how it happens.”
Except, that Republican in Wisconsin — Trump-endorsed candidate Tim Michels —lost Tuesday by a margin of 51% to 48% to Democratic incumbent Gov. Tony Evers. Republicans alsofell short of a super-majority in the Wisconsin state legislature, meaning that the GOP cannot overturn vetoes by Evers.
Election deniers, in fact, lost decisively in many of the most important election contests around the country, with a few exceptions. Threats to the peaceful transfer of power, to respecting the will of voters and the rule of law remain, but Tuesday’s results showed a clear repudiation of most candidates who showed disregard for democracy.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the incumbent Democrat, defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Tudor Dixon,54% to 44%. Dixon, a right-wing media commentator,had supported the false belief that Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 election. And in Michigan's Secretary of State race, incumbent Democrat Jocelyn Benson beat election conspiracistKristina Karamo 55% to 42%. Karamo had aggressively promoted debunked claims about the 2020 election.
Michigan voters also surprised analysts by electing Democrats to a majority in both chambers ofthe state legislature, even though polls indicated that only the state Senate was considered competitive. As in several other states on Tuesday, Democrats did much better in the Michigan legislature than expected, and the party successfully held off election deniers in other races, as well.
In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano had been another of Trump's biggest cheerleaders in his attempt to throw out millions of votes and reinstall Trump as president. Mastriano was beaten badly by Democrat Josh Shapiro,56% to 42%. And again, here, Democratswere close to flipping Republican control of the House in the Pennsylvania state legislature, something few analysts had predicted.
Those three Rust Belt states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — have been the key swing states in presidential elections for years now, and will be central once again in 2024. The fact that no supporters of Trump’s election lies were victorious in those states removes one source of concern for the future of democratic elections.
But out West, in Nevada and Arizona, anti-democratic candidates were locked in tight battles for governor and secretary of state. But Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for Arizona Secretary of State and probably the most extreme election denier on the ballot in the country, wastrailing Democrat Adrian Fontes 52% to 48% with 66% of the vote counted.
Finchem, a member of the Oath Keepers militia group and who was outside the U.S. Capitol with Trump supporters during the assault on Congress on January 6, 2021, has saidhe would not have certified President Biden as the winner of the 2020 election in Arizona, even though the votes showed Biden the victor.
The GOP's gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, Kari Lake, has been the right'smost prominentelection denier. As of early Wednesday afternoon, shewas neck and neck with Democrat Katie Hobbs, trailing by only about 12,000 votes out of 1.8 million cast, with 34% of the vote still uncounted.
In Nevada, Republican Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant was leading Democrat Francisco Aguilar by 10,000 votes out of 834,000 cast, with 23% of the vote uncounted.
Marchant has worked with Finchem and Karamo to foment unfounded allegations about the 2020 election. Marchant also alleges on his website that “he only lost” a contest for Congress in 2020 “because of election fraud and widespread election irregularities.”
In the states, governors and secretaries of state usually have the most influence over whether election results are accurately conveyed to Congress for certification in the Electoral College. In Nevada, however, the Secretary of State does not certify elections. Instead, the person in that position does set rules for voting and elections.
