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Vote as if democracy depends on it

Ian Kallen
7 min readOct 5, 2022

A guide to making an impact, while you still can

Mid-term elections generally don’t feel terribly consequential but 2022 is different. Rights are being withdrawn; Mitch McConnell’s decades-long project to put anti-abortion justices on the Supreme Court has resulted in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe. And democracy itself is under imminent threat; a former president conducts himself as though laws don’t apply to him, continues his efforts to cast doubt on the democratic process and has refused to concede his unpopularity on a seemingly tireless drive to have himself appointed Emperor of the United States. Which way the toss-up seats in congress land matters; we already see Lindsey Graham introducing legislation to ban abortions. There are numerous election deniers running for governor, attorney general and secretary of state offices across the United States; these are offices that have direct impact on how accessible voting will be and ultimately whether the votes will even be honored.

“I voted” stickers. (GPA Photo Archive / Creative Commons)

The contents below are largely derived from a recent review of the Cook Political Report ratings, explorations of Ballotpedia and States United Democracy Center. If you’re interested in digging more into how these candidates are supported, I recommend checking out Follow The Money. There is one month left before voting wraps in November. Vote like you mean it. And where you can’t vote, support candidates who will defend democracy and human rights.

U.S. Senate

Let’s not forget the republican incumbents in the senate who repeatedly put their party above country when they failed to vote for the conviction of Donald Trump; not once but twice. The first occasion, in 2019, concerned an egregious abuse of power as Trump attempted to engage in a quid pro quo; withholding aid to Ukraine until the Kiev government announced an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. The second, scarcely over a year later, was when Trump was impeached for inciting the January 6th insurrection. In both cases, the republicans in the senate were derelict in their duty. In these senate races that are mostly likely to be pivotal, there are either republican incumbents who sold out America or challengers who are fame-seeking opportunists (though the incumbents aren’t innocent there either).

Florida

Georgia

North Carolina

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Utah

Wisconsin

U.S. House of Representatives

If you care about stemming the tide of authoritarianism, there are a number of toss-up races for congress with Trumpist ideologues (or at least, enablers) on the ballot. These are among the many places where your vote, volunteer efforts and financial support can throw human rights and democracy in America a lifeline, especially in the battleground states.

Through the magic and travesty of gerrymandering, there are many congressional districts where the republican hold is more or less an immovable object. However, there are races where there are the greatest opportunities for impact, so we’ll focus on supporting these candidates:

Alaska

California

Illinois

Indiana

Kansas

Maine

Michigan

Minnesota

Nebraska

New Hampshire

Nevada

New Mexico

New York

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Texas

Virginia

Washington

Just for good measure, there are a handful of especially awful characters who have no business being in congress:

  • Lauren Boebert is a pistol fellating joke and she has to go, support Adam Frisch to replace her
  • Matt Gaetz would sell his mother if he thought it’d advance his station in life, support Rebekah Jones to send him packing
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene is a disgraceful specimen support Marcus Flowers to render her unemployed
  • Jim Jordan might be mistaken for a rabid dog but that would be an insult to dogs, support Tamie Wilson to put him back in the hole he slithered out of

Statewide Races

One of Donald Trump’s attack vectors against democracy was to have state congressional delegations throw out their state’s certified results and allow the state’s congressional delegation decide which way their electors would go. The idea was that state delegations that were majority republican would be enlisted in the coup attempt. We must foreclose on that possibility in 2024 by turning more of those delegations blue.

Some of these candidates have little prospect of success of winning their elections but many of them do; some are even enjoying the electoral advantages of incumbency. What follows are races where there’s an election denier on the ballot and an opponent who represents a bulkhead protecting democracy. These democracy defenders are not all perfect candidates; it’s tough to fully endorse all of them but on the other hand, if conspiracy theorists, demagogues and fascists are allowed to strengthen their foothold in American life, authoritarianism wins

These statewide seats of power may not be individually consequential in presidential races. However, in aggregate they can sway the outcome one way or the other. Secretaries of State set the parameters for how ballots are accessed and ultimately counted. Attorney Generals are the top law enforcement authorities for the state, they hold the powers to investigate, challenge or indulge election fraud claims (or shams, as was the case with Trump’s claims in 2020). And of course, the Governor is anointed with executive powers for the state government.

Alabama

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Kay Ivey (incumbent)
    - Democracy Defender: Yolanda Flowers
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Steve Marshall
    - Democracy Defender: Wendell Major
  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Wes Allen
    - Democracy Defender: Pamela Laffitte

Alaska

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Mike Dunleavy
    - Democracy Defender: Les Gara

Arizona

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Kari Lake
    - Democracy Defender: Katie Hobbs
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Abraham Hamadeh
    - Democracy Defender: Kris Mayes
  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Mark Finchem
    - Democracy Defender: Adrian Fontes

Colorado

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Danielle Neuschwanger
    - Democracy Defender: Jared Polis

Connecticut

  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Dominic Rapini
    - Democracy Defender: Stephanie Thomas

Florida

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Ron DeSantis (incumbent)
    - Democracy Defender: Charlie Crist
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Ashley Moody
    - Democracy Defender: Aramis Ayala

Idaho

  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Raúl Labrador
    - Democracy Defender: Tom Arkoosh

Indiana

  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Diego Morales
    - Democracy Defender: Destiny Wells

Iowa

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Kim Reynolds
    - Democracy Defender: Deidre DeJear

Kansas

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Derek Schmidt
    - Democracy Defender: Laura Kelly
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Kris Kobach
    - Democracy Defender: Chris Mann

Maine

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Paul LePage
    - Democracy Defender: Janet Mills

Maryland

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Dan Cox
    - Democracy Defender: Wes Moore
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Michael Peroutka
    - Democracy Defender: Anthony Brown

Massachusetts

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Geoff Diehl
    - Democracy Defender: Maura Healey
  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Rayla Campbell
    - Democracy Defender: William Galvin

Michigan

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Tudor Dixon
    - Democracy Defender: Gretchen Whitmer
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Matthew DePerno
    - Democracy Defender: Dana Nessel
  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Kristina Karamo
    - Democracy Defender: Jocelyn Benson

Minnesota

  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Kim Crockett
    - Democracy Defender: Steve Simon

Nevada

New Mexico

New York

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Lee Zeldin
    - Democracy Defender Kathy Hochul

North Dakota

  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: Charles Tuttle
    - Democracy Defender: Jeffrey Powell

Oregon

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Donice Noelle Smith
    - Democracy Defender: Tina Kotek

Pennsylvania

  • Governor (appoints the Secretary of State)
    - Election Denier: Doug Mastriano
    - Democracy Defender: Joshua Shapiro

Tennessee

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Bill Lee
    - Democracy Defender: Jason Martin

Texas

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Greg Abbott (incumbent)
    - Democracy Defender: Beto O’Rourke
  • Attorney General
    - Election Denier: Ken Paxton (incumbent)
    - Democracy Defender: Rochelle Garza

Vermont

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Kevin Hoyt
    - Democracy Defender: Brenda Siegel
  • Secretary of State
    - Election Denier: H. Brooke Paige
    - Democracy Defender: Sarah Copeland Hanzas

Wisconsin

  • Governor
    - Election Denier: Tim Michels
    - Democracy Defender: Tony Evers

In Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is not an election denier. In fact Donald Trump has directed ire his way because he didn’t go along with the stolen election sham. However, Stacey Abrams has done far more to promote democracy and ballot accessibility than Brian Kemp ever has or will. So the candidate to support there is Stacey Abrams.

There are a number of challenges facing America. Climate change, socio-economic inequities, gun violence and energy policies are all, if not existential, threatening our quality of life. The root of the problems afflicting American democracy is a broken campaign finance system; we shouldn’t have to engage in financial combat special interests but it is where we are for now. Vote as if democracy depends on it, because it does. And where you can’t vote, contribute to advancing candidates who will stand up for America and freedom.

Democracy
Election Deniers
Voting

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Ian Kallen

Written by Ian Kallen

329 Followers

Whiskey swillin', card marking pirate and foul mouthed beyond hope. I tweet on my behalf. Usually when I'm closing browser tabs.

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