The Republican Party has reached such diseased depths of depravity that it now recognizes the legitimacy of only one type of election: one it can rig.
Across the country, far-right exponents of the Big Lie that Donald Trump won in 2020 are running to seize control of the very infrastructure of democracy. These authoritarian conspiracy theorists know that if they win races for the post of secretary of state in key states, they can use every lever at their disposal to override the will of the American people and dictate their preferred outcomes. It would be the end of our republic as we know it, and we cannot—simply cannot—let it happen.
That’s why Daily Kos has a plan. We’re endorsing a major slate of Democrats running in the most competitive contests for secretary of state this year, to ensure that we keep Trump’s minions far, far away from the power to administer elections. These are all individuals of great integrity who share a universal desire to make voting as accessible and secure as possible—and to preserving our democracy in the face of the gravest threats:
- Colorado: Jena Griswold
- Michigan: Jocelyn Benson
- Minnesota: Steve Simon
- Nevada: Cisco Aguilar
In addition, we’re supporting a special fund set up by the Arizona Democratic Party to assist the winner of the state’s Aug. 2 primary.
Please donate $1 now to each of these races to protect democracy and prevent Trumpists from seizing control of our elections.
Each of these states has hosted many close races and could determine the outcome of the next presidential election in 2024.
After winning the post of secretary of state in Colorado in 2018 following eight years of Republicans in charge, Jena Griswold has increased access to ballot dropboxes on college campuses and tribal lands, expanded automatic voter registration, and implemented a ballot-tracking system for all voters. Meanwhile, Republican frontrunner Tina Peters was indicted earlier this year on 10 counts relating to her breach of election security systems in her capacity as Mesa County clerk in a lunatic attempt to further conspiracy theories about 2020. Oh, and she kicked one of the cops who tried to arrest her. Imagine her in charge of elections for the entire state.
Jocelyn Benson finally ended 24 years of Republican dominion over the secretary of state's office in Michigan in 2018. Since then, she's deployed more than a thousand ballot dropboxes across the state, implemented online voter registration, and allowed any voters who prefers to vote by mail to do so. Republican Kristina Karamo is a Trump-endorsed MAGA conspiracy theorist who testified in support of the Big Lie, said supporters of reproductive rights "must worship Satan," and compared accepting trans people to promoting pedophilia.
Steve Simon has served as Minnesota's secretary of state since winning office in 2014. He wrote the state's law establishing online voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting, which helped secure voting access during the pandemic and powered Minnesota to the highest turnout rate in the nation. His GOP opponent, Kim Crockett, thinks the 2020 elections were "rigged," wants to end same-day voter registration (despite using it herself in 2018), and used antisemitic imagery to depict Holocaust survivor George Soros as a "puppet master" in control of Simon, who is Jewish.
In Nevada, Cisco Aguilar is seeking to flip a Republican-held seat that's open because of term limits. He's been a tireless advocate for expanding educational opportunities for low-income Nevadans, especially in the state's large Latino community, and now he wants to protect hard-won expansions of voting access—the state now universally votes by mail—from right-wing attacks. Yet both of Aguilar's likely opponents, Jesse Haw and Jim Marchant, want to make mail voting harder by raising false fears of "ballot harvesting," and Marchant is even a QAnon ally who tried to overturn the 2020 elections—including his own loss in a congressional race.
Finally, in Arizona, Democrats have a primary between state House Minority Leader Reginald Bolding and former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. But it's the GOP field we need to get ready for to defend this open seat. Trump has backed state Rep. Mark Finchem, a QAnon supporter who fought to overturn the 2020 results, but there's also state Rep. Shawnna Bolick, who championed legislation that would've allowed lawmakers to decertify the state's presidential results at any point before Inauguration Day, and state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who successfully sponsored a bill that ended the permanence of the state's popular permanent mail voting list.
Every single one of the Republicans mentioned above would do everything in their power to make it harder to vote, at a minimum, but most would go much, much further. They would refuse to accept elections lost by their party and rig races in their favor. They would embrace the fringe, subvert democracy, and drive a stake through the heart of our most cherished freedom. And they’ll have untold millions of dollars supporting their campaigns this fall, because Trump and his bitter sycophants simply can’t stand that they lost fair and square.
That’s why we’re supporting this slate of critical races for secretary of state. The stakes couldn’t possibly be higher. Please join us.
Can you give $1 now to keep the worst of the MAGA worst as far as possible from running our elections? Democracy depends on it.