1 Overview

What we tracked:

Announced and/or filed candidates who ran for Governor in 2022.

Methodology:

To qualify as an Election Denier, 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.
Spread lies about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election in public fora, including in social media, press statements, and/or comments to press.
Called for a “forensic audit” of the 2020 presidential election after the results were certified and/or officially audited and/or stood up to multiple legal challenges.
Promoted conspiracies about the 2020 presidential election in public fora, including in social media, press statements, and/or comments to press.
Took actions to undermine the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, including: filed or supported litigation seeking to overturn the results; and/or promoted/participated in a Stop the Steal sponsored/branded event or rally.

2 By the Numbers

In 2022, 36 states held races for governor. In all, 82 Election Deniers ran in 30 of those races.

22 Election Deniers advanced through the primaries to the November general election.

As of December 7, 2022, Election Deniers were kept out of office in 83% (30/36) of this year’s governor races. Only six Election Deniers won their races for governor; they were all incumbents in states that voted for Trump in 2020: Alaska, Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Tennessee, and Texas.

Election Deniers lost governor races in 14 states: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.*

*There were 2 Election Deniers on the ballot for governor in both in Alaska and Michigan.

3 Governor Races in 2022

3.1 Governor Candidates

The table below lists candidates who were on the ballot for the general election on November 8, 2022. The table is organized by state and contains candidate name, party, whether they’ve been coded as an Election Denier using the methodology above, and whether they won or lost.

*Candidates with open filings from a past election cycle who did not appear to be actively running are not included in the tracker. Actively running means that a candidate has announced they are running and/or has an active website and/or has recent filings or activity relating to the 2022 cycle as of October 2021.

Party Key

D = Democrat
R = Republican
C = Constitution
G = Green
L = Libertarian
O = Other party or no party

4 Election Deniers

This section includes press statements, news coverage including comments, or social media posts by Election Deniers who won their races for governor this year.