USA Today: “The Republicans who rejected 2020 election result running for governor”

USA Today: "The Republicans who rejected 2020 election result running for governor"

New reporting from USA Today highlights how Republican election deniers are running for governor in "politically competitive states," where a win this November would give them "power over election administration" in 2028.

Andy Biggs of Arizona, Burt Jones of Georgia, Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, and Stacy Garrity of Pennsylvania are among the GOP candidates running for governor who spread baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election or tried to overturn the results altogether. These battleground states have been "at the center of disputes over voting rules, ballot counting, certification of results, and overall election administration" in recent years.

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USA Today: The Republicans who rejected 2020 election result running for governor

• Voting rights activists say the bigger threat to election security comes from officials who questioned, challenged or sought to overturn the 2020 election results and who could use the levers of state government to influence future election administration.

• Many of the candidates are running in states that could help decide future presidential elections, including in 2028.

• Governors… can shape voting laws and appoint key officials like secretaries of state and election board members. In some states, they also can influence how election disputes are handled.

• Biggs objected to Electoral College votes from Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada on Jan. 6, 2021, according to his own congressional statements.

• Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was one of the 16 Republicans who served as alternate Trump electors in Georgia after Biden narrowly won the state in 2020. Jones, who has Trump's endorsement in the governor's race and is widely viewed as the Republican front-runner, was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Fulton County investigation into efforts to overturn Georgia's election results, though he was never charged criminally.

• Speaking at a campaign rally in 2022 with Trump at her side, Garrity said, "We know that he won." She later said she accepted Biden's presidency while continuing to raise concerns about how the election was conducted.

• Tiffany, also endorsed by Trump for his gubernatorial race, has continued to push claims of potentially rigged elections since voting against certifying Biden's Electoral College victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania after the Jan. 6 riot.
• Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville joined a group of 147 Republican senators and House members who voted to overturn the 2020 election results after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6…. A heavy favorite in the Alabama's governor's race, the former college football coach remains one of the highest-profile elected officials in gubernatorial races after supporting challenges to the 2020 results.