August 3, 2022

Contact: Michael Beckel, Research Director

mbeckel@issueoneaction.org, p: 202-888-6770

Issue One Action sounds alarm after election deniers prevail in key contests in Arizona, Michigan

Washington, DC – August 3, 2022 –  Issue One Action is continuing to sound the alarm in the wake of multiple election deniers winning primary elections across the country last night. Among the places where election deniers prevailed in GOP primaries were Arizona, where extremist Mark Finchem won the Secretary of State nomination, and Michigan, where John Gibbs defeated Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), who, last year, voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump.

“When election deniers win positions of power, we all lose,” said Issue One Action CEO Nick Penniman. “Alarm bells should be ringing for everyone who cares about democracy in the wake of these primary results. Democrats, Republicans, and independents need to come together to stand up for free and fair elections and push back against anti-democracy candidates who would overturn the will of the people.”

Added former Amb. Tim Roemer (D-IN), a co-chair of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus who helped spearhead a recent statement by roughy three dozen former Democratic elected officials that condemned the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) elevation of Gibbs ahead of the primary in Michigan: “Democrats can and should fiercely compete in elections with Republicans. We will differ on policy and engage in great competition. But the legitimacy of our elections is a bright red line, and we should never deploy election tactics that elevate and support election deniers who propagate lies about the 2020 election. The DCCC should not be joining up with Donald Trump in Republican primaries to promote a candidate who significantly undermines our Constitution and destroys trust in our democratic system.”

The DCCC outpaced Gibb’s own spending of just under $334,000 to assist his victory in a tightly contested race decided by a few percentage points.

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Issue One Action is uniting Republicans, Democrats, and independents to protect our elections and fix our broken political system.