As I said earlier, Mastriano is probably the most ardent Big Lie supporter we’ll see win tonight. Remember that he attempted to launch a forensic “audit” of the state’s election results and paid for busloads of Pennsylvanians to join him at the Jan. 6 rally that devolved into the attack on the Capitol.
His win is important because it signals just how mainstream these ideas have become in the Republican Party.
That said, taking a look at other Big Lie candidates in races that have been called so far, there aren’t a lot of victories, though incumbents are the exceptions. Many of the Big Lie incumbents were among the group of Republicans who voted not to certify some of the 2020 election results.
A few newcomers have won their nominations as well, though, like Jim Bognet, who secured the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania’s 8th district and who said in December 2020 that he “stands with President Trump” for a “just result in the 2020 General Election in Pennsylvania!” There’s also Courtney Geels, who won the Republican primary in North Carolina’s 4th District. She hosted a dinner this year featuring Big Lie proponent Seth Keshel that promised to provide “an in-depth analysis of the 2020 election and how to prevent it [sic] fraud in 2022.” Then there’s Aaron Bashir, who won the GOP primary in North Carolina’s 2nd District. He called the 2020 election “one of the most rigged elections in our U.S. history.” But … he was also running unopposed, in a heavily Democratic district where he’s unlikely to go much further.
How Big Lie supporters are doing tonight
Senate, House and gubernatorial candidates who have either denied or questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and their results in Republican primaries in Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania, as of 10:05 p.m. Eastern
| CANDIDATE | OFFICE | Big Lie Position | % REPORTING | VOTE SHARE | STATUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brenda Bourn | ID Sen. | ❓Raised doubts | 0% | 0.0% | — |
| Edward R. Humphreys | ID Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Brad Little* | ID Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Lisa Marie | ID Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Janice McGeachin | ID Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Cody Usabel | ID Gov. | ❓Raised doubts | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Russ Fulcher* | ID-01 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Daniel Algiers Lucas Levy | ID-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Bryan Smith | ID-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Valerie “Dr Val” Fredrick | KY Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 99 | 3.6 | ✗ Lost |
| Tami L. Stainfield | KY Sen. | ❓Raised doubts | 99 | 2.5 | ✗ Lost |
| John Schiess | KY Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 99 | 1.5 | ✗ Lost |
| E. Lee Watts | KY-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 83 | 17.5 | ✗ Lost |
| Daniel Cobble | KY-03 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 65 | 4.7 | Trailing |
| Claire Wirth | KY-04 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 99 | 15.7 | ✗ Lost |
| Alyssa Dara McDowell | KY-04 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 99 | 5.2 | ✗ Lost |
| Harold “Hal” Rogers* | KY-05 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 89 | 82.3 | ✓ Won |
| Jeannette Andrews | KY-05 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 89 | 4.5 | ✗ Lost |
| Derek Petteys | KY-06 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 50 | 11.7 | ✗ Lost |
| David Flaherty | NC Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 65 | 1.0 | ✗ Lost |
| Kenneth Harper, Jr. | NC Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 65 | 0.8 | ✗ Lost |
| Benjamin E. Griffiths | NC Sen. | ❓Raised doubts | 65 | 0.4 | ✗ Lost |
| Leonard L. Bryant | NC Sen. | ❓Raised doubts | 65 | 0.4 | ✗ Lost |
| Drew Bulecza | NC Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 65 | 0.3 | ✗ Lost |
| Sandy Smith | NC-01 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 72 | 30.6 | Leading |
| Sandy Roberson | NC-01 | ❓Raised doubts | 72 | 26.2 | Trailing |
| Brent Roberson | NC-01 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 72 | 15.7 | Trailing |
| Billy Strickland | NC-01 | ❓Raised doubts | 72 | 13.5 | Trailing |
| Ernest Reeves | NC-01 | ❓Raised doubts | 72 | 1.2 | Trailing |
| Christine E. Villaverde | NC-02 | ❓Raised doubts | 26 | 57.0 | Leading |
| Mahesh “Max” Ganorkar | NC-02 | ❓Raised doubts | 26 | 23.7 | Trailing |
| Greg Murphy* | NC-03 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 60 | 75.9 | ✓ Won |
| Tony Cowden | NC-03 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 60 | 14.0 | ✗ Lost |
| Eric Earhart | NC-03 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 60 | 5.0 | ✗ Lost |
| Brian Michael Friend | NC-03 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 60 | 2.6 | ✗ Lost |
| Courtney Geels | NC-04 | ❓Raised doubts | 69 | 64.6 | ✓ Won |
| Robert Thomas | NC-04 | ❓Raised doubts | 69 | 35.4 | ✗ Lost |
| Virginia Foxx* | NC-05 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 71 | 76.7 | ✓ Won |
| Michael Ackerman | NC-05 | ❓Raised doubts | 71 | 23.3 | ✗ Lost |
| Christian Castelli | NC-06 | ❓Raised doubts | 46 | 37.4 | Leading |
| Gerry Austin | NC-06 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 46 | 6.1 | Trailing |
| Marvin Boguslawski | NC-06 | ❓Raised doubts | 46 | 3.7 | Trailing |
| David Rouzer* | NC-07 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 49 | 79.4 | ✓ Won |
| Max Southworth-Beckwith | NC-07 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 49 | 20.6 | ✗ Lost |
| Richard Hudson* | NC-09 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 67 | 79.6 | ✓ Won |
| Jen Bucardo | NC-09 | ❓Raised doubts | 67 | 8.6 | ✗ Lost |
| Michael Magnotta | NC-10 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 70 | 6.4 | ✗ Lost |
| Jeff Gregory | NC-10 | ❓Raised doubts | 70 | 5.0 | ✗ Lost |
| Chuck Edwards | NC-11 | ❓Raised doubts | 94 | 33.5 | Leading |
| Madison Cawthorn* | NC-11 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 94 | 31.7 | Trailing |
| Matthew Burril | NC-11 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 94 | 9.5 | Trailing |
| Michele V. Woodhouse | NC-11 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 94 | 5.3 | Trailing |
| Kristie Sluder | NC-11 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 94 | 1.5 | Trailing |
| Tyler Lee | NC-12 | ❓Raised doubts | 49 | 42.2 | Leading |
| Nalini Joseph | NC-12 | ❓Raised doubts | 49 | 22.9 | Trailing |
| Bo Hines | NC-13 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 52 | 31.6 | Leading |
| Renee Ellmers | NC-13 | ❓Raised doubts | 52 | 8.2 | Trailing |
| Chad Slotta | NC-13 | ❓Raised doubts | 52 | 4.1 | Trailing |
| Pat Harrigan | NC-14 | ❓Raised doubts | 75 | 75.8 | ✓ Won |
| Jason Beebe | OR Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Jo Rae Perkins | OR Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Ibra A. Taher | OR Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Court Boice | OR Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Reed Christensen | OR Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Brandon C. Merritt | OR Gov. | ❓Raised doubts | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Stan Pulliam | OR Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Amber R. Richardson | OR Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Bill Sizemore | OR Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Marc Thielman | OR Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Christopher A. Mann | OR-01 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Armidia “Army” Murray | OR-01 | ❓Raised doubts | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Mark Cavener | OR-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Katherine M. Gallant | OR-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Lori Chavez-DeRemer | OR-05 | ❓Raised doubts | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| John Di Paola | OR-05 | ❓Raised doubts | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Laurel L. Roses | OR-05 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| David Russ | OR-06 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Amy L. Ryan Courser | OR-06 | ❓Raised doubts | 0 | 0.0 | — |
| Mehmet Oz | PA Sen. | ❓Raised doubts | 54 | 30.5 | Trailing |
| Kathy Barnette | PA Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 54 | 23.3 | Trailing |
| Carla Sands | PA Sen. | ❓Raised doubts | 54 | 6.5 | Trailing |
| Sean Gale | PA Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 54 | 1.3 | Trailing |
| Douglas V. Mastriano | PA Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 51 | 43.3 | ✓ Won |
| Lou Barletta | PA Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 51 | 22.4 | ✗ Lost |
| Bill McSwain | PA Gov. | ❓Raised doubts | 51 | 15.2 | ✗ Lost |
| Dave White | PA Gov. | ❓Raised doubts | 51 | 7.7 | ✗ Lost |
| Charlie Gerow | PA Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 51 | 1.5 | ✗ Lost |
| Joe Gale | PA Gov. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 51 | 1.5 | ✗ Lost |
| Alex Entin | PA-01 | ❓Raised doubts | 13 | 16.8 | Trailing |
| Aaron Bashir | PA-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 21 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Guy Ciarrocchi | PA-06 | ❓Raised doubts | 19 | 35.2 | Leading |
| Regina Mauro | PA-06 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 19 | 14.0 | Trailing |
| Lisa Scheller | PA-07 | ❓Raised doubts | 40 | 51.8 | Leading |
| Kevin Dellicker | PA-07 | ❓Raised doubts | 40 | 48.2 | Trailing |
| Jim Bognet | PA-08 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 63 | 69.1 | ✓ Won |
| Mike Marsicano | PA-08 | ❓Raised doubts | 63 | 30.9 | ✗ Lost |
| Dan Meuser* | PA-09 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 57 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Scott Perry* | PA-10 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 27 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Lloyd K. Smucker* | PA-11 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 21 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| John Joyce* | PA-13 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 52 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Guy Reschenthaler* | PA-14 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 41 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Glenn “GT” Thompson* | PA-15 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 50 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Mike Kelly* | PA-16 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 34 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Jeremy Shaffer | PA-17 | ❓Raised doubts | 55 | 59.1 | ✓ Won |
| Jason Killmeyer | PA-17 | ❓Raised doubts | 55 | 24.7 | ✗ Lost |
| Kathy Coder | PA-17 | ❓Raised doubts | 55 | 16.2 | ✗ Lost |