We are at a really crucial and tentative moment for democracy in America, and I know that sounds dramatic, but I think it’s true. 2020 opened up a Pandora’s Box of threats to the electoral system. This midterm, in the most crucial races, voters voted to reject those threats. Just one secretary of state candidate who fully denied the results of the 2020 election won his race — Chuck Gray in Wyoming, who called the 2020 election “clearly rigged.” At the same time, more than 100 members of Congress who refused to accept the results of the last national democratic election were elected, or reelected, and the specter of election fraud continues to loom (protestors supporting Republican Arizona governor candidate and election denier Kari Lake protested outside the Maricopa County elections building on the weekend).
Yet we didn’t see anywhere near the fervor of election denialism that swept the country in 2020. Is that because it was a midterm? Because Trump wasn’t on the ticket? Or because Americans who believed Trump’s false claims have started to move on? I’m not sure we know the answer yet, but I’m hopeful that 2020 will go down as a just one of many bruises to American democracy, rather than the beginning of an ongoing battle to secure it.