Seriously, US Democracy Might Come Down To These Secretary Of State Races
Scary!
Liberals complain that Donald Trump never did anything for us, but he’s made us actually care about the state secretary of state position. Prior to 2020 and the Big Lie, the secretary of state barely registered. They probably had to buy their own drinks at bars, but now, democracy itself rests on who fills key secretary of state offices.
Jim Marchant, the Republican secretary of state nominee in Nevada, claimed at Trump's Saturday klan rally that both he and the twice-impeached thug had their 2020 election's stolen from them. Marchant lost his congressional race to Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, who's Black, by five points. There is no evidence of fraud, not that Marchant bothered to provide any.
“Marchant: President Trump and I lost an election in 2020 because of a rigged election. When my coalition of secretary of state candidates get elected, we're gonna fix the whole country and president trump is going to be president again”
— Acyn (@Acyn) 1665285355
Marchant chillingly declared: "When my coalition of secretary of state candidates around the country get elected, we're gonna fix the whole country and President Trump is going to be president again in 2024."
It doesn't sound like they intend to do this WITH VOTES.
Democratic nominee Cisco Aguila has out-spent Marchant but still lags behind him in the polls, and the clock is ticking.
“Marchant can’t be trusted, but I just don’t think a lot of people are even paying attention to the race,” said Donna West, a former chair of the Clark County Democratic Party who now volunteers as an organizer for the county party. “We’ve been knocking on doors, and people aren’t aware of the race. They still don’t understand what the secretary of state does.”
If voters don't know what the secretary of state does now, they soon will.
Since his first coup attempt failed, Trump has plotted his comeback coup in plain sight. He's supported and elevated election deniers across the country in key races. What voter suppression laws can't "fix," a Trump-picked secretary of state or governor will handle. They haven't been shy about their anti-democratic objectives, and Republicans have spent the past two years undermining their supporters' trust in any election they don't win outright. Polls consistently show that the majority of Republicans believe Trump's lies about the 2020 election and don't accept Biden as the legitimate president.
PREVIOUSLY:
AZ Election Deniers Lake, Finchem Pretty Sure Trump Won 2020 Election, Along With All Future Ones
Doug Mastriano Cannot Ever Be Pennsylvania Governor. We Mean It.
Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem is an election denier and insurrectionist. He's also the Republican nominee for secretary of state and has made clear that he'd never accept a Joe Biden victory in 2024. During an appearance on Showtime's "The Circus," Finchem's Democratic opponent Adrian Fontes patiently explained why Arizona voters probably shouldn't entrust the secretary of state office to an anti-democratic conspiracy theorist.
“What will it mean to have an election denier as Sec of State of AZ ( or any other state)? @Adrian_Fontes lays out the simple & incredibly high stakes here👇”
— Jennifer Palmieri (@Jennifer Palmieri) 1665445292
Fontes told host Jennifer Palmieri, "This isn't just politics anymore. Can we depend on the people running the process to not muck it up on purpose?" (This is rhetorical. We can't trust election-denying Republicans at all.) "The Circus" included a clip from an interview where Finchem perversely claims that Republicans not believing the 2020 election was legitimate is somehow proof that the election itself was corrupt.
Fontes compared Finchem and other election deniers to snake oil salesman, but these Republicans are profiting off grievance. He said, "We have consumer protections now because of people like that. We need election protections."
Unfortunately, for Fontes and Arizonans in general, Kyrsten Sinema is the state's senior senator and she has teamed up with her bestie Mitch McConnell to ensure that no reasonable voting rights protections get through the absurd 60-vote threshold. However, in fairness, expanded access to the ballot doesn't matter much when Republicans can just disregard election results.
Worse, the same Arizona polls that show Democratic Senator Mark Kelly with a double-digit lead over Patrick Bateman cosplayer Blake Masters also have Finchem comfortably leading Fontes. You'd think the voters who clearly prefer the Democratic Senate candidate would also choose, well, democracy itself down ballot.
Pennsylvania's fascist Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano has thrown down the gauntlet against free and fair elections. He told Bill Clinton's second-biggest mistake Dick Morris that "I get to appoint the secretary of state, and the road to 2024 goes straight through Pennsylvania."
“Dick Morris interviewed Jan. 6 insurrectionist Doug Mastriano on his weekend Newsmax show and said that Trump can come back in 2024 "but he has to win the governorship in Pennsylvania." Mastriano later replied: "I get to appoint the secretary of state." https://t.co/vHR5Hpp46w”
— Eric Hananoki (@Eric Hananoki) 1665411979
The secretary of state has significant influence over elections. Republicans will argue that these Trump stooge candidates are preserving election integrity, but that is perhaps the biggest lie of all.
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And Steve "Burn It All Down" Bannon.
Wow, kudos to the builder of that tank, be careful..the Rooskies might throw away one of their cruise missiles at it as they have plywood HIMARS mockups!