Democrats torn over pushing stolen-election narrative

The Hill ^ | 1/22/22 | Alexander Bolton

[Libloather]

Senate Democrats say they share President Biden’s concern that the results of the 2022 midterm elections may not be legitimate because of restrictive voting laws passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures and the empowerment of state-level officials allied with former President Trump.

But the senators are torn over how hard to push a stolen-election narrative ahead of the November election in which Republicans are expected to make big gains in Congress.

While Democratic lawmakers are worried that Republican state officials are seeking to suppress Democratic votes, some are leery of sounding like Trump, who made predictions of widespread election fraud before the 2020 presidential election and continues to do so on a regular basis.

The key distinction is that Trump hasn’t been able to back up any of his fraud claims in court and they have been dismissed by members of his own party.

Democrats believe there’s plenty of evidence that Republicans are trying to steal future elections and feel bolstered by extensive reporting by CNN, NBC and other media outlets on the state-level machinations of Trump allies.

“I think many of these laws, especially those that end the bipartisan counting of votes, are intended to seat people who lost the election. If Herschel Walker wins in Georgia because all the Fulton County votes got thrown out, that’s not a legitimate election,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

[Jacquerie]

And if the fraud is not exposed, the vast majority will just keep on voting. As if it matters.