Tonight, Republicans are holding the second night of their national convention in Milwaukee after officially nominating convicted felon Donald Trump for president and his loyal lackey J.D. Vance as his Vice President yesterday. The lineup for the second night features just as many MAGA extremists as opening night – including more 2020 election deniers and people who have refused to condemn political violence. Despite promoting a new tone, MAGA Republicans show with speaker after speaker that they are more interested in helping Donald Trump than bringing the country together.
Senate GOP Candidate Kari Lake (R-AZ)
Kari Lake Is One Of Arizona’s Most Relentless Election Deniers. Former newscaster Kari Lake is an extreme election denier who believes Trump won the 2020 election in Arizona and says she wouldn’t have certified the election results. Lake called for election officials to be arrested, and implied President Biden was not president months after he took office. She pushed conspiracy theories about the January 6 insurrection and has supported the far-right by hosting events with insurrectionists and embracing extremists. Lake pushed for “decertification” of the 2020 election results and promoted a host of election conspiracies, including touting the debunked documentary 2000 Mules. She has received Donald Trump’s endorsement and continues to promote him relentlessly.
Kari Lake Is Still Trying to Overturn An Election She Lost In 2022. Kari Lake unsuccessfully ran for Arizona Governor in 2022, and followed Trump’s same playbook during the primary election, suggesting that if she lost the primary, her opponents “might be trying to set the stage for another steal.” She made wild accusations of “a ton of problems with the system,” even while winning the primary. Lake’s lawyers, who are facing disbarment, asked an appeals court to overturn the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election. Just this week, Lake is in court trying to appeal her case attempting to overturn the 2022 gubernatorial election in Arizona again.
Kari Lake Is Already Laying The Groundwork To Challenge The 2024 Elections. Kari Lake has been laying the groundwork to challenge election results for the third cycle in a row, warning right-wing audiences that Democrats would be cheating in, and trying to steal, the 2024 election. She has been trying to ban voting machines, while casting doubt on early voting and mail-in ballots, signing a pledge to end both and instate “one day voting” in Arizona.
Kari Lake Holds Extreme Anti-Choice Views and Wants to Repeal The Affordable Care Act. Kari Lake has long been an opponent of abortion, celebrating the MAGA Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and supporting state efforts to restrict abortion – including banning abortion pills nationwide. She has also praised Trump’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and has pushed for its full repeal.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
Ron DeSantis Was A Key Figure Working To Overturn the 2020 Election. Ron DeSantis is an election denier and was a key figure in Trump’s conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He spent weeks spreading lies and misinformation about the election and collaborated with the Trump campaign to share false evidence of so-called voter fraud and cast doubt on the vote count. DeSantis even floated a plan for state legislatures to appoint illegitimate, pro-Trump slates of electors. Months after President Biden took office, DeSantis still refused to answer whether the 2020 election was rigged.
Ron DeSantis Has Embraced Authoritarianism, Far-Right Conspiracy Theories, and Extremists. Ron DeSantis has courted a slew of far-right extremists, including anti-vaxxers, QAnon believers, and insurrectionists. He has used his power to target his political enemies, in one instance suspending an elected state prosecutor in an “unprecedented power grab” simply for exercising prosecutorial discretion in abortion cases.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)
Mike Johnson Is An Architect of Election Denial. As the New York Times reported, Mike Johnson was “the most important architect of the Electoral College objections” in the House. Johnson pressured his colleagues to support the Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the election on the unconstitutional premise that the expansion of vote by mail during the pandemic was illegal. Johnson managed to collect signatures from more than 60 percent of House Republicans. Johnson boasted on Twitter of Trump’s approval of his efforts, calling the Texas suit “the big one” that would enable Trump to remain in office. After the 2020 election, Johnson said the election was “rigged,” declaring, “I don’t concede anything,” and amplifying Trump’s conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines. Johnson was in close contact with Trump, telling him: “‘Stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve. We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans’ trust in the fairness of our election system.’” He stayed in regular communication with Trump in the weeks between the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Johnson was a trusted member of Trump’s inner circle and frequently traveled with Trump on Air Force One during his term.
Mike Johnson Urged Trump Supporters To “Fight!” On The Morning Of January 6, 2021, Voted Against Certifying The Election Results, and Rejected Accountability For The Violent Insurrection. On the morning of January 6th, Mike Johnson tweeted “We MUST fight for election integrity, the Constitution, and the preservation of our republic!” Later that day, Johnson voted to overturn the 2020 election, refusing to certify the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Johnson voted against creating a 9/11-style commission to investigate the attack on the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021. He has also refused to hold key figures accountable for the violence that day, voting against holding Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Johnson even attacked Democrats for holding hearings on January 6 and investigating the attack, referring to them as a “third impeachment,” and “pure political theater.” Johnson also has deep ties to Christian nationalists who helped fuel the January 6 insurrection.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY)
Elise Stefanik Is A Moderate-Turned-MAGA Extremist and Trump Loyalist. In the last few years, Elise Stefanik has transformed herself from a moderate Republican into a Trump-loving MAGA star who was even spoken of as a potential running mate for Trump’s 2024 campaign. Stefanik voted to overturn the election and supported the Texas lawsuit that sought to throw out electoral votes in key states. She led the Republican pushback on the January 6 committee hearings, which she referred to as an unfair attempt to “target patriotic Trump supporters across the country” and a “partisan witchhunt.” In 2022, Stefanik co-sponsored a resolution to “expunge” Donald Trump’s second impeachment over the events of January 6, and in 2024 she was one of 65 Republican members of Congress to endorse a non-binding resolution proclaiming that “former President Donald J. Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” She has even been talking with Donald Trump directly about how Republicans can use Congress to defend him from his numerous legal troubles. Stefanik has long been in close contact with the Trump campaign; she endorsed him for re-election and has been one of the masterminds behind a series of political stunts meant to target Trump’s prosecutors, including a political farce supposedly investigating violent crime in New York City. Stefanik was called out by a local New York news outlet for her repeated lies about the FBI at CPAC and even joined a field hearing despite not sitting on the Judiciary Committee.
House GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA)
Steve Scalise Is A Far-Right Extremist With Ties To Fringe Conspiracy Theorists Who Voted To Overturn The Election. Steve Scalise has a long history of ties to far-right extremist groups. Back in 2002, he spoke at a white nationalist convention hosted by a group founded by prominent white supremacist and former KKK leader David Duke, and a journalist later alleged that Scalise once called himself, “David Duke without the baggage.” In 2014, civil rights advocates at the Southern Poverty Law Center called on Scalise to step down from House leadership for his speech. As House Majority Whip, Rep. Steve Scalise is one of the most powerful members of the House. In December 2020, he used his position to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, refusing to accept Joe Biden’s victory and claiming that, “In some states, they had results by 10 o’clock that night, and then in other states, it was days and weeks, and during those days and weeks you saw massive vote swings.” Scalise voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and signed a brief supporting Texas’s lawsuit seeking to throw out the election results in key states. Scalise was a leader of the Trump-inspired “counter programming” to the January 6 committee hearings, claiming that they were a “distraction.”
Steve Scalise Is A Trump Acolyte Who Serves On The Hardline MAGA Republican Study Committee. For more than a decade, Steve Scalise has also been serving on the hard-right Republican Study Committee, which has released radical proposals to slash and privatize Medicare and Social Security, limit access to voting, oppose infrastructure funding, and ban abortion nationwide as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Scalise is a longtime Trump supporter who has been described as “walk[ing] in lockstep with Donald Trump since Trump was elected president in 2016.” He voted with Trump 98.2% of the time throughout his term according to FiveThirtyEight. Scalise fiercely defended Trump during his first impeachment trial, echoing Trump’s rhetoric about a so-called perfect phone call pressuring the President of Ukraine to investigate his political opponent. He told a reporter at the time, “You look at that [phone] conversation, President Zelensky had called President Trump to thank him for the leadership that he provided. When Zelensky got elected, he said he modeled his campaign after President Trump’s. Scalise also defended Trump after his Georgia indictment on election interference charges, tweeting: “Let’s be clear about what’s happening: Joe Biden is weaponizing his Department of Justice against his own political rival. This sham indictment is the continuation of the endless political persecution of Donald Trump.”
House GOP Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN)
Tom Emmer Joined The Legal Effort To Overturn The Election And Backed January 6 Participants And Conspiracy Theorists For Office As The Head Of The NRCC. Tom Emmer signed an amicus brief in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the election, claiming that, “All legal votes should be counted and the process should be followed — the integrity of current and future elections depends on this premise and this suit is a part of that process.” In his role as chair of the NRCC, Emmer backed dozens of candidates who worked to overturn the 2020 election or participated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, including some who continue to spread conspiracy theories about the legitimacy of past elections or plan to interfere with future elections.
Tom Emmer, Who Serves On The Hardline MAGA Republican Study Committee, Has Supported Trump Throughout His Legal Woes. Tom Emmer currently serves on the hard-right Republican Study Committee, which has recently released radical proposals to slash and privatize Medicare and Social Security, limit access to voting, oppose infrastructure funding, and ban abortion nationwide as early as six weeks into pregnancy. During the Trump administration, he voted in line with Trump’s views almost 90 percent of the time. Emmer has been loyal to Trump even as his criminal indictments piled up. After the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in fall 2022, Emmer called it “unprecedented” and “outrageous,” and pivoted to Hunter Biden’s accusations. In June, after Trump was indicted for violating the Espionage Act, Emmer released a similar statement calling the charges a “political witch hunt against Donald Trump.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)
Rick Scott Is An Extreme Election Denier Who Proposed Gutting Social Security and Medicare. Rick Scott was one of just eight MAGA Senators who voted to overturn the 2020 election results. One of the wealthiest members of Congress, Scott has long wanted to destroy the social safety net, proposing an extreme plan to rip away essential benefits by gutting Social Security and Medicare – even though he himself oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history. His plan to sunset all federal programs after five years was so extreme that he was forced to revise it to exempt Social Security and Medicare.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy Is A MAGA Extremist Who Called January 6 An “Inside Job” and Pushes Extreme, Anti-Choice Rhetoric. Vivek Ramaswamy is a MAGA extremist multi-millionaire who called January 6 an “inside job,” accused “big tech” and the “national security state” of stealing the 2020 election, and showed support for insurrectionists and far-right extremists, promising to pardon all “peaceful, nonviolent” January 6 participants. He even said Mike Pence missed “a historic opportunity” when he certified the 2020 election results. Ramaswamy is also an anti-choice abortion opponent. He celebrated the MAGA Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and reportedly said he was willing to consider a federal abortion ban after saying Florida’s six-week abortion ban was “reasonable.”
Former Trump Administration Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson
Ben Carson Is A Trump Loyalist Who Has Downplayed The January 6 Insurrection. Ben Carson is a Trump lackey who supported Trump’s false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election. He downplayed the violence at the Capitol complex on January 6 and accused the FBI of being complicit. Carson supported Trump and his administration after January 6, questioning the bipartisan January 6 committee, and even saying it would be “very reasonable” for Trump to pardon himself from any convictions related to January 6.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AK)
Former Trump White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Has Embraced Insurrectionists. Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders became Governor of Arkansas just last year with Donald Trump’s endorsement, which came just days after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Sanders even accepted an endorsement from a speaker at the January 6 rally. Best known for reciting lies and half-truths from the White House podium in defense of Trump, Sanders has refused to unequivocally state that Joe Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election instead claiming, “I don’t think we’ll ever know the depths of how much fraud existed.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Marco Rubio Has Refused To Accept The 2024 Election Results Unconditionally & Supports Extreme Anti-Choice Policies. When asked if he would commit to accepting the 2024 presidential election results, Marco Rubio responded: “No matter what happens? No. If it’s an unfair election, I think it’s going to be contested … by either side.” Rubio has also supported extreme anti-choice policies, including federal bans on abortion and abortion medication as well as legislation that would imperil access to reproductive health care services including contraception and IVF. He celebrated the MAGA Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and he has supported dragonian state-level abortion bans.
Senate GOP Candidate Eric Hovde (R-WI)
MAGA Millionaire Eric Hovde Suggested Senior Citizens Are Not Qualified To Vote. Eric Hovde is yet another millionaire extreme MAGA conspiracy theorist. He has embraced lies about the 2020 election and outlandishly suggested that senior citizens living in nursing homes are not qualified to vote: “Almost nobody in a nursing home is in a point to vote.”
Senate GOP Candidate Bernie Moreno (R-OH)
Bernie Moreno Is An Anti-Choice Extremist and Trump Loyalist. Bernie Moreno is a Trump acolyte who has echoed his lies about the 2020 election. Moreno is so extreme on abortion that he supports banning abortion without exceptions even in situations involving rape and incest, and has insisted that life begins at conception – a stance imperiling access to basic reproductive health care, including contraceptives and fertility treatments like IVF. He also supports repealing the Affordable Care Act and opposes laws protecting LGBTQ+ Americans from discrimination in employment and housing.
Senate GOP Candidate Mike Rogers (R-MI)
Mike Rogers Voted To Overturn The Election and Tried To Expunge Donald Trump’s Impeachment For January 6. Mike Rogers was one of the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election and he supported the Texas lawsuit seeking to throw out electoral votes in key swing states. After the 2020 election, Rogers tweeted misinformation about voter fraud and “legal votes,” and in 2022, Rogers co-sponsored a resolution to “expunge” Donald Trump’s second impeachment over the January 6 insurrection.
Senate GOP Candidate Dave McCormick (R-PA)
Dave McCormick Is A Hedge Fund Manager Pushing Extreme Anti-Choice and Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies. Dave McCormick is a hedge fund manager who lives in Connecticut and has a record of extreme views on abortion, previously holding that life “begins at conception” – a stance that has been used to justify banning reproductive health care up to and including fertility treatments like IVF. He praised the MAGA Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade and supports a full abortion ban with few or no exceptions. He has run anti-trans ads and even pushed for repealing the widely popular bipartisan infrastructure law
Senate GOP Candidate Jim Banks (R-IN)
Jim Banks Is An Election Denier Who Pushed Outlandish Conspiracy Theories and Voted To Overturn Election Results. Jim Banks, currently a member of the House, is a top election denier who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and signed a brief supporting Texas’s lawsuit seeking to throw out the election results in key states. Banks lobbed wild accusations against Democrats while votes were still being counted on November 5 tweeting, “Last time, we know from Peter Strzok that Democrats had an insurance policy if Trump won the election… What was Democrats’ plan this time around? And does it include the shady ballot counting happening in WI, MI and PA?? Impossible to believe they didn’t have one.” Banks was one of 65 MAGA Republican members of Congress to endorse a non-binding resolution in February 2024 proclaiming that “former President Donald J. Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Senate GOP Candidate Sam Brown of (R-NV)
Sam Brown, An Anti-Choice MAGA Extremist, Questioned the 2020 Election and Downplayed January 6. Sam Brown refused to say that Joe Biden was legitimately elected president and attacked a fellow Republican candidate in 2022 for waiting too long to legally challenge the 2020 results. He later downplayed the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol complex. Brown is a MAGA extremist who supports banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest, opposes the Affordable Care Act, and has said he wants to eliminate the Department of Education, using the funding instead to give tax cuts to wealthy Americans and corporations.
Senate GOP Candidate Tim Sheehy (R-MT)
Tim Sheehy Is An Anti-Abortion Extremist Who Wants To Give Handouts To Wealthy Americans While Gutting Health Care, Education, and National Security Funding. Tim Sheehy is a hard-right Minnesota millionaire who holds extreme views and supports draconian cuts to key federal programs. Sheehy supports a national abortion ban and wants to completely privatize the U.S. health care system as well as “cleave off” the Departments of Education and Homeland Security – all to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He even wants to turn federal public lands over to the states.
Senate GOP Candidate Hung Cao (R-VA)
Hung Cao Is An Election Denier and Conspiracy Theorist Who Compared Abortion To The Holocaust and Warned Voters About “California Witchcraft.” Navy veteran Hung Cao has repeatedly cast doubts on the 2020 results, questioning how Joe Biden was able to win and has pledged to release insurrectionists from prison. He said, “It’s just very difficult for me to understand what happened in 2020 when [Biden] sits in their basement for the whole election cycle and they got more votes than Barack Obama.” The bizarre conspiracy theorist has compared abortion to the Holocaust, and even warned voters of California “witchcraft” coming to Virginia in a far-right interview.