For months leading up to the vote, election deniers alleged without evidence that the election would be rigged to favor Democrats, that mail-in ballots would be compromised, and that noncitizens would vote in large numbers. A WIRED review of pivotal races involving election deniers found that almost none of these predictions materialized, and nearly all the deniers lost their races without raising questions about the final outcomes.
Concessions Without Fraud Claims
In Arizona’s governor race, Andy Biggs conceded to incumbent Democrat Katie Hobbs without mentioning voter fraud or election rigging, instead blaming voter turnout. In Michigan, Senate candidate Mike Rogers was decisively defeated and has not publicly commented on the outcome. In Wisconsin, gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany was defeated by Democrat David Crowley and conceded defeat without referencing any election rigging.
Ohio candidate Vivek Ramaswamy lost his race for governor to Amy Acton and told supporters he had called his opponent to concede, without mentioning election rigging or voter fraud. In Nevada, Trump-endorsed candidate Jim Marchant lost his election to incumbent Cisco Aguilar and did not comment publicly. In Colorado, Republican secretary of state candidate James Wiley was defeated by Amanda Gonzalez, conceded without questioning the results, and announced plans to run for chair of the Colorado Republican Party.
In Pennsylvania, Representative Scott Perry lost his seat to Democrat Janelle Stelson, and while he previously declined to give a definitive answer when asked if he would accept the results, he has not commented publicly since losing. Meanwhile, Byron Donalds, a Trump-backed candidate who won his race in Florida after refusing to say he would accept the results, made no reference to voter fraud or election rigging while thanking supporters on Tuesday night.
Silence Across the Election Denial Network
As the results emerged, the broader network of groups and activists that spent months posting about election threats suddenly went silent. True the Vote posted numerous times on X about supposed irregularities while voting was open, but the group’s account remained silent after the results came out.
Prominent MAGA activist Scott Presler stopped sharing claims about voting issues once results came in, writing only about the unpassed SAVE America Act. Cleta Mitchell, founder and chairman of the Election Integrity Network, has not posted since the results were announced, and Patrick Byrne, a major funder of the election denial community, has not mentioned the midterm results on social media.
Seth Keshel, a prominent figure in the election denial community, posted repeatedly on Tuesday night but never questioned the outcomes. The most prominent figure of all, Donald Trump, called in to Fox News late on election night to congratulate Democrats on their victory.
