Replacing the Refs: 2023 Statewide Races & 2024 Presidential Candidates

A project of States United Action

Elections are run by the states. State officials serve as referees, in charge of making sure our elections are free, fair, and secure. These are the people who set the rules, run the elections, supervise the counting of ballots, certify the results, and they are tasked with protecting those results.

Since 2020, Election Deniers have been determined to capture statewide offices—governor, attorney general, and secretary of state—and use their powers to undermine the will of the people. In our 2023 edition of Replacing the Refs, we stress that the data on candidates running for statewide office is only part of the full picture of how Election Denial continues to impact on our democracy.

The Election Denier movement in 2023 has grown, changed, and metastasized far beyond the campaign trail. Election Denial continues to be a very real problem for voters: one third of the country has an Election Denier in statewide office overseeing their elections. Election Denial has become a key theme on the presidential campaign trail, forcing voters to grapple with repeated exposure to untruthful information about our elections. And it’s a very real problem for election officials, who are battling election lies and conspiracies pushed by Election Deniers who gained significant platforms in 2022 and continue to cause real harm.

One year ago, voters stepped up to defend free and fair elections. Election Denier candidates for statewide office, campaigning on lies about the 2020 election and determined to undermine trust in democracy, were decisively rejected in swing states.

As a result, after several multi-year investigations, federal, state, and local prosecutors have filed criminal charges against almost three dozen people for their roles in the plot to overthrow the 2020 election, including lawyers who advised on the plan. Some of those lawyers are also facing professional discipline before state bar officials.

Though these developments have strengthened our democracy, the Election Denier movement remains alive and well. Election Deniers are campaigning in states holding 2023 elections for Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State. Several are running for president. And more are exploring campaigns for statewide office in the 2024 cycle. Along with their allies who are already in office, they constitute an active and evolving threat to American democracy.

Just three states have elections for statewide executive office this year. Elections run on a different timeline in every state, and 2023 is considered an “off-cycle” year. Five Election Deniers are currently on the ballot for either governor, secretary of state, or attorney general — the statewide offices that oversee voting. These candidates represent a direct threat to free and fair elections in those states. Meanwhile, three Election Deniers are running presidential campaigns for 2024, poisoning the national conversation with lies and misinformation.

But knowing just the number of Election Deniers on the ballot is not enough to understand the scope of the threat to free and fair elections.

Election Deniers are already in office — 23 of them in 17 states. And they are using their powers to weaken elections. They are chipping away at nonpartisan election administration, abandoning programs to strengthen election security, and trying to deny voters a fair voice in government. They have powerful allies attacking elections from the outside. These include campaign surrogates who spout election lies and fringe media personalities who abuse their platforms to amplify misinformation.

Even candidates who lost elections have discovered that they can stay in the spotlight by running for other elected offices, serving in prominent roles for state parties, performing as election denial surrogates, and bringing the election denial message to every corner of the country. In some cases, these individuals are raising millions of dollars all with the goal of undermining elections. Together, they are forcing the public servants who do believe in free and fair elections to waste time and taxpayer money combating lies and conspiracy theories.

These figures are all part of an evolving Election Denier movement. It’s an entire ecosystem dedicated to confusing voters and undermining trust in democracy.

Since 2020, at least 42 states have had an Election Denier run for at least one of the statewide offices that oversee elections. But even when it’s not front and center on the campaign trail, election denial remains front and center in our elections as a very real, ever-present threat faced by voters and election administrators alike.

To fight it, and ultimately defeat it, we must see it in full.

Learn more: Election Deniers in office: A 50-state landscape

In our decentralized American system, presidents don’t oversee elections. That power falls to the states. Yet presidents make decisions every day that can strengthen or weaken American democracy. They have a say in the federal budget, which includes funding for election administration and security.

They sign or veto legislation that protects the civil rights of voters and determines some federal election procedures. (At the end of last year, President Biden signed a law that reformed the Electoral Count Act, which governs how presidential elections are certified, to prevent a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021.) Presidents appoint federal judges, who hear cases about fair representation and access to the ballot box. They also appoint federal officials—such as the attorney general and the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, who oversee enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.

In addition, presidents have the ultimate public platform. They can use it as a bullhorn for democracy—upholding our cherished traditions, celebrating our election officials and election workers, defending the freedom to vote. Or, as we saw unfold in 2020, they can use that platform to promote election lies, tear at the foundations of our elections, and foment political violence. Every current and future president—and presidential candidate—will play a critical role in defining how the American people and the world see our democracy.

As we track Election Deniers in the 2024 presidential race, we stress that the Election Denier movement is not just about 2020 anymore. Election Deniers are working to undermine future elections by promoting meritless claims about fraud, misinformation, or lies.

There are three Election Deniers running for President of the United States in 2024, each of them on a major party ticket.

Learn more: Candidates for president & evidence of election denial

Three states are holding elections for statewide officials that oversee elections in 2023: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. There are four Election Deniers on the ballot, each on a major party ticket.

Three states—Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi—are holding elections for governor in 2023. Seven Election Deniers ran in the primaries in two states, and as of August 10, 2023, only two Election Deniers are moving on to the general election in November. Each of the Election Deniers that ran were on a major party’s ticket. There are 7 sitting governors that are Election Deniers.

Learn more: Candidates for governor & evidence of election denial

Three states—Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi—are holding elections for attorney general in 2023. One Election Denier ran in the primaries, and as of August 10, 2023, that Election Denier is moving on to the general election in November. That Election Denier is running on a major party’s ticket.

Learn more: Candidates for attorney general & evidence of election denial

Three states—Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi—are holding elections for secretary of state in 2023. Two Election Deniers ran in the primaries, and as of August 10, 2023, is moving on to the general election in November. Each of Election Deniers that ran were on a major party’s ticket.

Learn more: Candidates for secretary of state & evidence of election denial

What We Are Tracking: Announced and/or filed candidates running in 2023 for three statewide offices with election administration responsibilities: governor, attorney general, and secretary of state; and announced and/or filed candidates running in 2024 for president of the United States.

Methodology

To qualify as an Election Denier in the 2023 or 2024 cycles, a candidate must meet one or more of the criteria below:

• Falsely claimed former President Trump won the 2020 election instead of the legitimate winner, President Joe Biden.
• Refused to concede, or publicly supported a candidate’s refusal to concede a race after the results were certified and/or officially audited and/or stood up to multiple legal challenges.
• Called on or pressured election officials to refuse to certify the 2020 presidential election results and/or a race in subsequent elections based on meritless claims about election fraud, voter fraud, misinformation, or lies.
• Took actions to undermine the integrity of the 2020 presidential election and/or subsequent election cycles, including:
  • filed or supported litigation seeking to overturn the results.
  • filed or supported litigation that was sanctioned for being malicious and/or without merit in the aftermath of an election.
  • promoted/participated in a Stop the Steal sponsored/branded event or rally during/following the 2020 election.
  • called for a “forensic audit” of the 2020 presidential election and/or a race in subsequent elections after the results were certified and/or officially audited and/or stood up to multiple legal challenges.
• Spread lies about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and/or subsequent election cycles in public fora, including in social media, press statements, and/or comments to press.
• Promoted election-related conspiracies about the 2020 presidential elections and/or subsequent election cycles in public fora, including in social media, press statements, and/or comments to press. ^{1 Common election-related conspiracies include a host of debunked claims and myths that gained momentum during the 2020 election cycle. These include but are not limited to sharing or liking videos spreading election conspiracy theories by known disinformation sources such as 2000 Mules, knowingly amplifying baseless claims that voting machines were tampered with or connected to the Internet which allowed for tampering of vote totals, voting machines were designed to fail on purpose on Election Day, Dominion Voting Systems’ machines rigged the election, and other proven false claims about “stolen elections” or activities that would have changed the outcome of a legitimate election.}