MAGA election deniers did worse in 2022 than other Republicans — and Dems expect more 'implosions' in 2024

The 2022 midterm elections saw a predicted "red wave" fizzle out, as Republicans only barely won control of the House while losing ground in the Senate, governorships, and state legislatures. Some election observers have suggested that a big factor was the inability of several Republican candidates in key states like Arizona and Pennsylvania to accept the results of the 2020 election, pushing conspiracy theories about election fraud and rigging that turned off more mainstream voters and possibly discouraged hardcore Republicans from voting.

A new study reported by The New York Times suggests that is indeed what happened.

"Denying the results of the 2020 election and casting doubts about the nation’s voting system cost statewide Republican candidates 2.3 to 3.7 percentage points in the midterms last year, according to a new study from States United Action, a nonpartisan group that promotes fair elections," reported Nick Corasaniti. "Even at the lowest end of the spectrum, 2.3 percentage points would have been enough to swing several critical midterm races that Republicans lost, including the contests for governor and attorney general in Arizona and the Senate elections in Nevada and Georgia. In each of those races, the Republican nominee had either expressed doubts about the 2020 election or outright rejected its legitimacy.

"In the midterms, a slate of election-denying candidates ran together as the America First coalition. These candidates, organized in part by Jim Marchant, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, sought to take over critical parts of the nation’s election infrastructure by running for secretary of state, attorney general and governor in states across the country," said the report. "But in every major battleground state, these candidates lost. 'What we found was lying about elections isn’t just bad for our democracy, it’s bad politics,' said Joanna Lydgate, the chief executive of States United Action."

This comes amid a new report from POLITICO that Democrats are hoping for more such candidates win GOP primaries in key states, weakening Republicans in 2024 ahead of a Senate map that is extremely challenging for Democrats to hold their majority — starting with Marchant himself making another bid for high office in Nevada.

"Though the state’s 2022 Senate race was one of the closest in the country, Democrats are near-giddy that former President Donald Trump backer Jim Marchant is taking on Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.). Marchant is on a multi-year losing streak in key races — but he’s still a Republican primary contender given his alliance with the former president and track record of prevailing in primaries," reported Burgess Everett and Holly Otterbein. "'He is, I believe, a three-time loser. A MAGA election denier. And so, he’s going to have his challenges,' Rosen said in an interview of Marchant, a former state lawmaker. 'He’s going to have to sell himself.'"