2026-11-14 10:00:15.260Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
选举夜的几个小时里，唐纳德·特朗普总统发出了一段罕见的表态：他接受了共和党落败的结果。
随着民主党浪潮的规模逐渐清晰，特朗普表示他“完全愿意”接受选举结果，称赞民主党在竞选中对阵共和党弱势候选人时表现强劲。
对于一位在十多年时间里一直兜售输掉选举时存在大范围舞弊这一无根据说法的总统而言，这是一个引人注目的、但最终只是暂时的转变。特朗普重返白宫的头两年里，动用了几乎所有联邦政府的权力，试图破坏早已确立的投票程序，预先对中期选举结果提出质疑，坚称共和党只有在民主党舞弊的情况下才会输掉选举。
到了周一，特朗普又恢复了他的老习惯。
他在真实社交平台（Truth Social）上质问：“真有人相信这次‘选举’是公正的吗？”质疑民主党为何能积累如此多的提前选票，并声称这些数字让共和党“根本不可能”获胜。
这一转变凸显了“美国优先”（MAGA）阵营最响亮的声音之一的政策摇摆，这些人长期以来一直在传播一系列虚假理论：非法移民大规模投票、“深层政府”的民主党人伪造选票、外国对手黑客入侵投票机器来翻转选举结果。
但在上周共和党遭遇惨败、特朗普短暂摆出和解姿态后，这些盟友开始互相攻击——将曾经一致的舞弊论调换成了一场激烈的内斗。
一些长期支持特朗普无根据选民舞弊论调的人似乎准备承认失败，为2028年重新集结，其中包括特朗普的顾问、如今已成为播客主持人的史蒂夫·班农，以及退役陆军中将迈克尔·弗林。后者在2020年特朗普败选后曾呼吁实施戒严。
但其他人已经在编造关于2026年中期选举结果的阴谋论，并向支持者筹集资金。
特朗普关于2020年选举的虚假说法催生了一个数百万美元规模的保守派人物和团体组成的小产业，这些人多年来一直坚信选举被窃取、舞弊猖獗，且有必要对投票施加更严格的限制——尽管事实上舞弊案件极为罕见。上周的民主党浪潮标志着这一运动的一个转折点。尽管有迹象显示该运动在共和党内部的影响力正在减弱，但中期选举惨败后的反应表明，为何“选民舞弊工业复合体”短期内不太可能终结。
针对CNN就本报道提出的问题，一名白宫官员表示，特朗普政府已明确表态：“任何在我们选举中非法投票的人都将被追究责任。”
一些曾大肆宣扬特朗普2020年选举存在舞弊虚假说法的最响亮声音，上周迅速启动了“选举被窃取”的宣传机器，也开始质疑2026年选举的合法性。
前MyPillow公司首席执行官、知名右翼阴谋论者迈克·林德尔呼吁对中期选举进行“全面重新计票”，他在社交媒体帖子中声称存在违规行为，同时附上了供支持者捐款的链接。
特朗普的盟友、在亚利桑那州角逐州长和联邦参议员席位失败的 kari lake，上周声称爱荷华州的“数据不对劲”——而民主党在该州已锁定多个全州级公职。
蒂娜·彼得斯曾是科罗拉多州的一名 clerk，因试图推翻2020年选举结果而获罪入狱，今年6月获释后，她虚假声称中期选举是“我国经历过的最严重的安全漏洞”，并在投票结束后的72小时内发布了5条筹款信息。
“请点赞，就像我们的国家指望它一样，”彼得斯写道，“它确实指望了。”
当中期选举舞弊的说法开始传播时，该运动最具影响力的组织者之一明显持怀疑态度。
克莱塔·米切尔经营着基层组织“选举诚信网络”，该组织是在支持特朗普2020年选举舞弊说法的浪潮中成立的。她基本上没有参与日益壮大的舞弊论调合唱。多年来，她一直帮助领导支持特朗普的、旨在重塑选举管理的行动，她的联盟与特朗普政府关系深厚，其部分成员担任要职。
本周CNN询问她是否有证据表明选举存在舞弊，米切尔表示她没有看到相关证据。
“我没有理由认为存在舞弊，”她说道，“我并不是说舞弊肯定没发生过。但总得有人拿出数据向我证明这是可能的。”
populist评论员、策略师班农在10月告诉CBS新闻，“美国优先运动的核心信念是我们赢得了2020年选举”，根据CNN的审查，他在自己的“战争室”播客中未对上周选举的合法性提出任何疑问。班农因拒绝就2021年1月6日美国国会大厦遭冲击事件向国会作证而入狱四个月，那次冲击是由选民舞弊的虚假说法煽动的。
“人们不应该抱怨选举被窃取，”班农周日表示。
而就在特朗普周一发布中期选举舞弊说法后不到一小时，保守派政治评论员梅根·凯利就发出了简短的斥责：“别再说了。”
即使是曾大肆宣扬特朗普选民舞弊说法的最知名人士之一也对此提出了尖锐批评。
“任何相信他废话的人，问问自己，他有没有起诉过2020年选举中的任何人？！”前众议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林在X上回应特朗普时写道，她曾是美国优先运动的核心成员，后来成为特朗普的怀疑者，“这应该让你们中的一些人非常愤怒，尤其是那些为了对抗2020年选举而赔上个人钱财、个人人际关系，甚至锒铛入狱的人。”
在2020年特朗普败选后成为右翼选举谎言震中的亚利桑那州马里科帕县，共和党监事会成员托马斯·加尔文敦促共和党人停止传播选举阴谋论。
“对于过去六年一直在传播这些谎言的我的共和党同胞们——你们需要停下来，因为你们导致了这里的共和党，乃至全国的共和党，走向毁灭，”加尔文在选举次日表示。
“希望这是对所有这些骗子的一次警示，”他补充道。
米切尔仍然是她在特朗普试图推翻2020年选举结果后创建的庞大“选举诚信”运动中最突出的声音之一。她的网络拥有全国性的追随者，数千万美元的资金，以及与政府的密切联系。
运动法律中心的战略调查主任布伦丹·费舍尔表示，米切尔在资金和拨款领域处于“独特的交叉点”。
“她帮助为选举否认运动提供资金，同时在州、县和地方层面构建组织架构，自2020年以来，这将选举否认者转变为一支重要的政治力量，”费舍尔说。
但更广泛的特朗普阵营选举舞弊生态系统，有时因为未能证实其广泛的主张而面临嘲笑，甚至来自共和党同仁的嘲笑。共和党中期选举失利后又一轮未经证实的指控，威胁到她试图建立的任何公信力。
“如果没有事实依据，你就不该信口开河。而且很多数据甚至还没有公开，”米切尔告诉CNN。
“我一再强调，除非你能证明，否则不要提出主张。如果你能证明，就领你的100万美元奖金，”她指的是特朗普在选举前一周提出的、用于奖励能提供选民舞弊定罪线索的100万美元悬赏。
不过，米切尔拒绝挑战特朗普自己的中期选举舞弊说法。
“我不会恶意评价总统，”她说道，“我试过，但不会那么做。”
许多质疑选举结果的共和党人特别指向德克萨斯州，该州民主党数十年来首次赢得了联邦参议员和州长职位。
“这次选举被操纵了，”韦恩·阿林·鲁索上周在他的播客中声称。这位保守派评论员曾宣扬选民舞弊主张，并敦促特朗普对选举采取联邦行动。“德克萨斯肯定出了严重的问题。选票总数没有偏差。它们完全不可能，”他虚假宣称。
民主党人詹姆斯·塔拉奇获得了540万张选票，超过了民主党总统候选人卡马拉·哈里斯在德克萨斯州获得的480万张选票。但德克萨斯州中期选举的总票数比2024年总统选举少了近150万张——只是因为面临诸多争议的共和党人肯·帕克斯，得票数比特朗普2024年的得票数少了210万张。
特朗普的盟友声称选举存在大规模舞弊的原因之一是，在上周民主党大获全胜的许多州，比如德克萨斯州，共和党控制了所有全州级公职。
彼得·蒂克廷是一名律师，也是特朗普的童年好友，他曾徒劳地敦促总统通过宣布国家紧急状态来攫取联邦对选举的控制权，长期以来一直声称2020年的投票机器被外国操控。
他上周在接受采访时辩称，中期选举也发生了同样的事情。
“这完全是我所预料的，我知道或者相信这些机器会被就位，”蒂克廷告诉CNN。“因为这是他们梦寐以求的结果。”
没有证据表明美国的投票机器被攻破，或者任何结果被外国势力或其他人改变——即使是在库尔特·奥尔森领导的政府内部对投票机器进行调查之后，奥尔森曾在白宫和司法部任职。
尽管蒂克廷在过去一年里一直是保守派媒体的常客——尤其是在他成功为客户彼得斯争取到州特赦后——这位律师表示，上周他就舞弊问题联系班农时遭到了冷遇。
“我可以告诉你，我通过短信建议他，他基本上说别发了。这有点意思，就是别再给我发了，”蒂克廷说道。
班农没有回应CNN的置评请求。
目前尚不清楚特朗普政府明年将如何激进地推进其选民舞弊运动——或者中期选举是否会遏制政府在选举诚信方面的大规模努力。
选举日当天，国土安全部长马克韦恩·马利恩接受多次采访时表示，美国国土安全部计划在选举后展开调查，审计“投票日志”，寻找非公民及其他不符合资格的选民。
但在数月将选举舞弊和非公民投票作为标志性问题，并成为政府在该问题上最突出的声音之后，马利恩自中期选举以来很少公开提及此事。
过去两年里，该部门一直是政府追查选民舞弊的核心力量，动用了大量调查资源，审查了数十个州的选民登记册。但内部文件和消息人士指出，白宫在每一步都深度参与。
曾领导司法部民权司的哈米特·迪隆上周辞职。迪隆是特朗普选民舞弊运动的公众代表，一直不遗余力地向各州施压，要求交出未编辑的选民登记册，以审计非公民情况，已向30个州提起诉讼但均未成功。
在中期选举之前，她没有参与最近的选举工作，比如司法部败诉的诉讼，被法院驳回，该诉讼要求加利福尼亚州将政府声称可能是公民的2万张选票分开。司法部本周撤回了该诉讼。
司法部长托德·布兰奇周四告诉记者，司法部的选民舞弊调查将继续，但暗示自选举日以来没有启动新的调查。
“我们正在积极调查，并将继续调查选举诚信案件，包括刑事和民事案件，”布兰奇说。“无论上周选举的结果如何，这都是预期内的开始或停止，而且这将继续下去。”
一些仍在政府关键岗位上的保守派人士，他们质疑美国选举的安全性，反对2020年选举结果，或者宣扬特朗普关于大规模舞弊操纵选举以对抗共和党的虚假说法。
保守派网站《正义新闻》的出版商约翰·所罗门在今年夏天被任命为白宫透明度工作组负责人，该工作组推动解密文件，这些文件为特朗普7月的黄金时段讲话提供了依据，他在讲话中声称中国干预了2020年选举。尽管所罗门曾认为美国投票机器存在可能损害选举的漏洞，但今年夏天他承认没有发现任何2020年选举被窃取的证据。
所罗门周三告诉CNN，他预计该工作组未来几周将发布的下一批文件不会涉及选举问题。他没有排除在该工作组预定结束的年底前发布更多与选举相关的文件的可能性。
当被问及是否发现2020年选举中存在任何选票被更改的证据时，所罗门重申情报界没有发现此类证据。
蒂克廷告诉CNN，他担心特朗普政府会撤回对所谓选举舞弊的推动。他认为特朗普最初接受选举结果的反应，是在总统听到所有证据之前做出的。
与此同时，蒂克廷表示，特朗普是唯一能让他停止行动的人。
“如果他对我说，‘彼得，我不想你再费任何事了，’你知道，我会服从，”蒂克廷说。“我无权质疑原因。但他还不知道我在做什么。”
根据对选举官员、投票公司高管和其他人的采访，美国优先运动的长期目标表示，他们希望中期选举能对右翼选举阴谋运动形成有力反驳，他们认为这是一个无耻的小产业。
一位要求匿名、发言坦率的密歇根州知名共和党人表示，民主党压倒性的胜利可能会削弱选举阴谋群体。这位共和党人指出，曾散播特朗普选举被操纵说法、并成为密歇根州务卿共和党提名人的安东尼·福林在竞选失败后承认了败选。
“差距太大，无法解释，”这位密歇根州共和党人告诉CNN。“剩下的主要活跃在网上，其中一些人还会从每次失利中筹款。”
话题现在转向X和YouTube，因为质疑选举结果的顶级声音被主流保守派电视频道疏远——这些频道因推广投票机器操纵2020年选举结果的虚假说法而支付了巨额法律和解金。
福克斯新闻支付了7.87亿美元，以解决 Dominion投票系统提起的诽谤诉讼，目前仍在应对Smartmatic公司的另一桩案件。（福克斯否认存在不当行为）新smax和One America News分别与Dominion和Smartmatic解决了单独的诽谤诉讼。
“当你有这样一场 landslide 选举结果时，即使骗子也意识到他们不会有任何吸引力，”一位参与选举舞弊诉讼的消息人士告诉CNN，将该运动描述为“选民舞弊工业复合体”。
“他们正在失去很多影响力，但我不认为这会消失，”该消息人士补充道。“如果他们察觉到机会，可能会在两年后卷土重来。”
如果他们确实试图在2028年之前重建，可能会困难重重。
共和党失去了监督或影响选举机制的关键州级职位。民主党在佐治亚州和俄亥俄州赢得了州务卿职位，并保留了密歇根州、威斯康星州、亚利桑那州和内华达州的席位。
这些民主党人将在2028年总统选举周期中掌舵。密歇根州当选州务卿加林·吉尔克里斯特告诉CNN，他的目标之一是让选举否认主义“站不住脚且荒谬”。
“我国选民直接拒绝了选举否认主义……我们传递了一个强烈的信息，不尊重选民意愿的人没有立足之地，”吉尔克里斯特说。“选民的态度是明确的。”
CNN的多尼·奥沙利文和汉娜·拉比诺维茨为本报道提供了协助。
Pro-Trump ‘voter fraud-industrial complex’ faces existential crisis after midterms blowout
2026-11-14 10:00:15.260Z / CNN
For a few hours on election night, President Donald Trump struck an unfamiliar note: acceptance of Republican losses.
As the scale of the Democratic wave came into focus, Trump said he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results, crediting Democrats with running strong races against weak Republican candidates.
It was a striking, but ultimately temporary, departure for a president who has spent more than a decade peddling baseless claims of widespread election fraud when he loses. Trump spent his first two years back in office using nearly all the levers of the federal government to try to undermine long-established voting procedures and preemptively cast doubt on the midterms, insisting Republicans could lose only if Democrats cheated.
By Monday, Trump was back to his old habits.
“Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest,” he asked on Truth Social, questioning how Democrats had amassed so many early votes and claiming the numbers made it “impossible” for Republicans to win.
The reversal underscored the whiplash among some of MAGA’s loudest voices, who have long promoted a sprawling catalog of false theories: illegal immigrants voting en masse, “deep state” Democrats manufacturing votes and foreign adversaries hacking machines to flip results.
But after last week’s Republican rout and Trump’s short-lived conciliatory tone, those allies turned on one another — trading a once-united chorus of fraud claims for a bitter round of infighting.
Some longtime advocates of Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud appeared ready to concede defeat and regroup for 2028, including Trump adviser-turned-podcaster Steve Bannon and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who pushed for martial law after Trump lost in 2020.
But others were already raising conspiracies about the 2026 midterm results — and seeking donations from supporters.
Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election gave rise to a multi-million-dollar cottage industry of conservative figures and groups who have spent years dedicated to the idea that the election was stolen, that fraud is rampant, and that tighter restrictions on voting are necessary, despite the fact that fraud cases are quite rare. Last week’s Democratic wave marked an inflection point for the movement. While there are signs of its waning influence inside the GOP, the reaction to the midterms blowout shows why the “voter fraud-industrial complex” isn’t likely to end anytime soon.
In response to CNN questions for this story, a White House official said the Trump administration has been clear that “anyone who illegally votes in our elections will be held accountable.”
Some of the loudest voices who pushed Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent quickly revved up the stolen-election messaging machine last week and questioned the legitimacy of the 2026 election, too.
Mike Lindell, the former MyPillow CEO and prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist, called for a “full recount” of the midterm elections, claiming irregularities in a social media post that also included a link for supporters to donate.
Kari Lake, a Trump ally who lost races for governor and Senate in Arizona, claimed last week that “the math isn’t mathing” in Iowa, where Democrats were projected to win multiple statewide offices.
And Tina Peters, a former Colorado clerk who went to prison for crimes related to efforts to overturn the 2020 results and was released in June, falsely claimed the midterms were “the most severe security breach our country has ever seen,” and also posted five fundraising pitches in the 72 hours after the polls closed.
“Please give like our country depends on it,” Peters wrote. “IT DOES.”
As claims of midterm fraud gained traction, one of the movement’s most influential organizers was notably skeptical.
Cleta Mitchell, who runs the grassroots Election Integrity Network, an organization that grew out of the groundswell backing Trump’s 2020 fraud claims, has largely stayed out of the growing chorus. For years, she has helped lead the Trump-aligned push to remake election administration and her coalition has deep ties to Trump’s government, with some members holding key posts.
Asked by CNN this week about allegations the election was fraudulent, Mitchell said she hasn’t seen evidence to support it.
“I have no reason to think that,” she said. “It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, I suppose. But somebody needs to come up with some data to show me that’s possible.”
Bannon, the populist commentator and strategist who told CBS News in October that a “core belief of the MAGA movement is we won the 2020 election,” has not entertained questions about the legitimacy of last week’s election on his “War Room” podcast, according to a CNN review. Bannon served four months in prison for refusing to testify to Congress about the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which was fueled by false claims of voter fraud.
“People should not be complaining about a stolen election,” Bannon said Sunday.
And less than an hour after Trump posted his midterm fraud claims Monday, conservative political commentator Megyn Kelly fired off a terse rebuke: “Just stop.”
Even one of the most prominent former purveyors of Trump’s claims of voter fraud was sharply critical.
“For anyone who believes his bulls—, ask yourself, has he ever prosecuted ANYONE from the 2020 election???” former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former MAGA staple-turned Trump skeptic, wrote on X in response to Trump. “That ought to make some of you very angry especially those of you who lost personal money, personal life relationships, and even went to prison for Trump as you fought against the 2020 election.”
In Arizona’s Maricopa County, which became ground zero for right-wing election lies after Trump lost in 2020, Republican Board of Supervisors member Thomas Galvin urged Republicans to stop embracing voting conspiracies.
“To my fellow Republicans who have been trafficking these lies for the last six years — you need to stop, because you have led to the destruction of the Republican Party here in Arizona, and frankly around the country,” Galvin said the day after the election.
“Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to all those grifters,” he added.
Mitchell remains one of the most prominent voices in the sprawling “election integrity” movement she helped build in the aftermath of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Her network commands a nationwide following, tens of millions in funding and close administration ties.
Brendan Fischer, director of strategic investigations at the Campaign Legal Center, said Mitchell sits at a “unique intersection” of the funding and grantmaking worlds.
“She helps direct funding to the election denial movement while also building the organizational infrastructure at the state, county, and local levels that has turned election deniers into an important political force since 2020,” Fischer said.
But the broader MAGA election fraud ecosystem has, at times, faced ridicule, even from fellow Republicans, for its failure to substantiate its sweeping claims. Another round of unproven accusations after Republicans’ midterm losses threatens any credibility she has tried to build.
“You shouldn’t be shooting your mouth off if you don’t have the facts. And a lot of the data is not even public yet,” Mitchell told CNN.
“I’ve said repeatedly, don’t make claims unless you can prove it. And if you can prove it, claim your million bucks,” she said in reference to Trump $1 million offer the week before the election for tips leading to voter fraud convictions.
Still, Mitchell drew the line at challenging Trump’s own midterm fraud claims.
“I’m not going to badmouth the president,” she said. “Good try, but not going to happen.”
Many Republicans questioning the election results have pointed in particular to Texas, where Democrats won a Senate seat and the governor’s mansion for the first time in decades.
“This election is rigged,” Wayne Allyn Root alleged on his podcast last week. The conservative commentator has promoted voter fraud claims and urged Trump to take federal action over elections. “There’s absolutely something rotten in Texas. The vote totals aren’t off. They’re literally impossible,” he falsely claimed.
Democrat James Talarico’s 5.4 million votes outperformed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ Texas vote total of 4.8 million. But the total number of votes in Texas in the midterms was nearly 1.5 million fewer than the 2024 presidential election — it’s just that Republican Ken Paxton, who faced numerous controversies, underperformed Trump’s 2024 total by 2.1 million votes.
One of the issues for Trump allies claiming widespread election fraud is in many of the states like Texas where Democrats racked up victories last week, Republicans controlled every statewide office.
Peter Ticktin, a lawyer and boyhood friend of Trump’s who unsuccessfully urged the president to seize federal power over elections by declaring a national emergency, has long leveled baseless claims that voting machines in 2020 were corrupted by foreign nations.
He argued in an interview last week that the same thing happened in the midterms.
“It’s just exactly what I predicted, knowing or believing that the machines would be in place,” Ticktin told CNN. “Because this is their dream result.”
There’s no evidence that voting machines in the US have been compromised or that any results have been changed by foreign powers or others — even after an investigation of voting machines inside the administration led by Kurt Olsen, who held posts at the White House and Justice Department.
While Ticktin has been a staple on conservative media over the past year — especially after he successfully lobbied for a state pardon for his client, Peters — the lawyer said he got a cold shoulder when he reached out to Bannon about fraud last week.
“I can tell you with him, I advised him via text and he basically said stop. Which kind of means don’t send me any more,” Ticktin said.
Bannon did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
It’s not yet clear how aggressively the Trump administration will pursue its voter fraud crusade next year — or if the midterms will rein in the administration’s sweeping efforts around election integrity.
On Election Day, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in multiple interviews that DHS planned to conduct a post-election investigation, auditing “voting logs” to look for noncitizens and other ineligible voters.
But Mullin has said little publicly about it since the midterms, after months of making election fraud and noncitizen voting a signature issue — and becoming one of the administration’s most prominent voices on it.
His department has been the engine for the administration’s hunt for voter fraud over the past two years, marshaling an array of investigative resources and scrutinizing voter rolls from dozens of states. But internal documents and sources indicate heavy involvement from the White House every step of the way.
Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, resigned last week. Dhillon was a public face of Trump’s voter fraud crusade and had relentlessly worked to pressure states to hand over their unredacted voter rolls to be audited for noncitizens, suing 30 of them to no avail.
Dhillon was not involved in more recent election efforts before the midterms, like the Justice Department’s unsuccessful lawsuit, blocked by the courts, that demanded California segregate 20,000 ballots of voters the administration claimed could be noncitizens. DOJ withdrew the lawsuit this week.
Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Thursday that DOJ’s voter fraud investigations would continue, but suggested no new probes had been opened since Election Day.
“We are actively and will continue to investigate election integrity cases, criminally and civilly,” Blanche said. “That wasn’t expected to start or stop no matter what the results of the election were last week, and that’ll continue.”
A collection of conservatives who questioned the security of US elections, fought the 2020 results or promoted Trump’s false claims that widespread fraud rigs elections against Republicans still work across the administration in influential posts.
John Solomon, publisher of the conservative site Just the News, was named head of a White House transparency task force this summer, which was behind the declassified documents underpinning Trump’s July primetime address in which he claimed China interfered in the 2020 election. While Solomon has argued that US voting machines have vulnerabilities that threaten to compromise elections, he acknowledged this summer he had not uncovered any evidence the 2020 election was stolen.
Solomon told CNN on Wednesday he does not expect the next batch of documents, which the task force will release in the coming weeks, to pertain to elections. He did not rule out the release of more election-related documents before the end of the year, when the task force is slated to end.
Asked whether he had found evidence of any votes being changed in the 2020 election, Solomon reiterated that the intelligence community had found no such evidence.
Ticktin told CNN that he’s concerned the Trump administration will pull back on its push against supposed election fraud. He argued that Trump’s initial reaction accepting the results came before the president had heard all of the evidence.
At the same time, Ticktin said Trump was the one person who could get him to stand down.
“If he ever said to me, ‘Peter, I don’t want you to even bother with any of this anymore,’ you know, I would obey,” Ticktin said. “It’s not for me to question why. But he doesn’t know what I’m doing yet.”
Longtime targets of MAGA election fraud activists say they hope the midterms will provide a powerful rebuke against the right-wing election conspiracy movement, which they see as a shameless cottage industry, according to interviews with election officials, voting company executives, and others.
A prominent Michigan Republican, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said the resounding Democratic victories could shrink the election conspiracy crowd. The Republican noted that Anthony Forlini, who spread Trump’s claims of rigged elections and was the GOP nominee for Michigan secretary of state, conceded after losing his race.
“The margins were too big to explain away,” the Michigan Republican told CNN. “What’s left lives mostly online, and some of it is people who raise money off every loss.”
The conversation is now on X and YouTube because top voices questioning election results have been shunned by mainstream conservative TV outlets – which paid big legal settlements for promoting false claims that voting machines rigged the 2020 results.
Fox News paid $787 million to settle a defamation case filed by Dominion Voting Systems, and is still fighting a case from another company, Smartmatic. (Fox denies wrongdoing.) Newsmax and One America News settled separate defamation lawsuits with both Dominion and Smartmatic.
“When you have a landslide election with this result, even the grifters realize they won’t get any traction,” a source involved in election fraud litigation told CNN, describing the movement as the “voter fraud-industrial complex.”
“They are losing a lot of their clout, but I don’t think it goes away,” the source added. “They might come back in two years, if they sense an opportunity.”
If they do try to reconstitute ahead of 2028, it could be an uphill climb.
Republicans lost key state offices that oversee or can influence the mechanics of elections. Democrats captured secretary of state offices in Georgia and Ohio, and held seats in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada.
Those Democrats will be at the helm during the 2028 presidential election cycle. Michigan’s Secretary of State-elect Garlin Gilchrist told CNN one of his goals in office is to keep election denialism “untenable and ridiculous.”
“The voters of this country rejected election denialism outright… we sent a strong message that there is no place for people who do not respect the will of the voters,” Gilchrist said. “The voters were unequivocal.”
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
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