Jan. 6 election deniers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere are back on the ballot

This story was originally published by Capital & Main.

Nearly 200 Republicans who supported President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election are on the ballot for major statewide and U.S. congressional offices this November, according to States United Action, a nonprofit that tracks election deniers.

The group defines an election denier as someone who “participated in spreading Donald Trump’s lie about the 2020 election, refused to certify the results of that election, or attempted to overturn the results.” Its tally includes 163 races for Congress and 30 races for statewide offices that play a role in elections — including governors, attorneys general and secretaries of state.

Some on the list, including U.S. representatives in Pennsylvania and Ohio, were directly involved in conversations with Trump about how to cast doubt on the election results. Others voted to deny the certification of election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania, battleground states that Joe Biden won. One even attended the Jan. 6 rally.

Candidates elected this cycle have the potential to impact the 2028 election by signing off on or certifying the results. Several, including Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany, have made statements affirming that they will certify the results, while others, like Florida governor hopeful Byron Donalds, have not.

None of the over 60 court cases filed with regard to the 2020 election found evidence of fraud, according to Campaign Legal Center. Election officials in the Trump administration declared it the “most secure in American history.”

Capital & Main requested comment from election-denying candidates in seven states but none responded. Here are some of the candidates running:

PENNSYLVANIA

Scott Perry, U.S. House Candidate

Scott Perry, who is running for reelection in Pennsylvania’s 10th district, was a key ally in strategizing with Trump about how to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a report by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Perry led the eight Pennsylvania Republicans who voted to deny certifying the 2020 election, six of whom are running for reelection this year. He signed his name to the brief supporting Texas’s lawsuit against Pennsylvania and four other states that Biden carried.

Perry introduced Trump to Jeffrey Clark, a lawyer Trump tried to tap to lead the Justice Department hours before the Jan. 6 attack, according to the Senate Judiciary report. Clark drafted a letter to lawmakers in Georgia that the Justice Department had “significant concerns” about the election. Trump rescinded Clark’s job offer after senior staff at the Justice Department threatened to resign en masse.

Stacy Garrity, Gubernatorial Candidate

On Jan. 5, 2021, then-Treasurer-elect Stacy Garrity spoke about “election integrity” at a rally in Pennsylvania aimed at pushing lawmakers to decertify election results, saying “the election from this November is tarnished forever.” Her campaign said that her comments were not referring to the presidential election; however, in 2022, she appeared to double down on the stance that Trump won the election.

“We know that he won,” Garrity said, pointing to Trump at a rally for GOP candidate Mehmet Oz.

Garrity is challenging Democratic incumbent Josh Shapiro in the race for governor. In August 2026, when directly asked if Trump lost the 2020 election, Garrity did not answer, saying that she’d “rather look forward,” according to ABC27 News.

She then appeared to backtrack, telling CNN a week later, “As I have said repeatedly since the 2020 election, I am painfully aware that Joe Biden was elected president.” A spokesperson told CNN that Garrity would accept and certify the results of the 2028 election if she is governor.

CALIFORNIA

Ken Calvert, U.S. House Candidate

Ken Calvert is one of two representatives running for reelection from California who voted to deny the certification of 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021. He also signed on a brief supporting a lawsuit that Texas filed asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results from four states that Joe Biden won narrowly. The Supreme Court declined the lawsuit, saying Texas lacked a legal standing to sue.

Calvert is running to represent California’s new 40th District in a competitive race against another Republican incumbent, Young Kim. The district, which includes parts of Orange and Riverside counties, was redrawn after Proposition 50 and is made up of sections of both Calvert’s and Kim’s current districts.

Kim, who was also in office at the time, did not join the Republican challenges to results.

ARIZONA

Andy Biggs, Gubernatorial Candidate

Andy Biggs voted against certifying election results in Pennsylvania and in his home state of Arizona, where he’s served as a member of Congress since 2016. He and two other U.S. representatives wrote a letter asking Arizona election officials to audit all the ballots cast in the 2020 election. Biggs has claimed, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud in Arizona.

An organizer of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally said that Biggs helped plan the event that led to the insurrection at the Capitol. Biggs has denied involvement in the rally.

Biggs is running to challenge Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs for Arizona governor.

TEXAS

Ken Paxton, U.S. Senate Candidate

In 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued four battleground states that Biden won, attempting to overturn their election results. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear the lawsuit, Paxton has continued to advance claims of voter fraud. In March 2026, Paxton called the 2020 election “stolen” in a post on X.

Paxton is running against Democrat James Talarico in a highly watched race that could decide which party controls the Senate.

OHIO

Jim Jordan, U.S. House Candidate

Leading up to Jan. 6, Jim Jordan played a major role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Jordan was among a group who met with Trump two days after the election was called for Biden to strategize about how to proceed, The New York Times reported.

Over the next few months, he continued to advance claims of fraud. When asked, in December 2020, if Trump should concede, Jordan responded, “No way,” according to CNN. On Jan. 6, Jordan voted to deny certification of the election.

Jordan is likely to win reelection, as he is running in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by over 20%.

WISCONSIN

Tom Tiffany, Gubernatorial Candidate

Tom Tiffany was one of two Wisconsin Republicans in the House who voted to deny election certification on Jan. 6. He said he would have voted to object to Wisconsin’s results if he had been able to, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Tiffany defended his vote by claiming that election officials illegally altered ballots, which a nonpartisan audit found no evidence for.

During the 2026 election cycle, as Tiffany vies to become the state’s next governor in a competitive contest with Democrat David Crowley, he’s walked back his previous stance.

“Joe Biden won,” Tiffany said in a statement to Wisconsin Watch. “In 2028, I’ll certify whoever wins the most votes in Wisconsin.”

Derrick Van Orden, U.S. House Candidate

Derrick Van Orden attended the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally to “stand up for the integrity of our electoral system,” according to an op-ed he wrote. He made claims of a “tremendous amount of voter fraud,” although he told a Wisconsin news station that he was there to participate in a “peaceful protest” and that he did not enter the Capitol.

He’s running for re-election in a tightly contested district against Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke.

FLORIDA

Byron Donalds, Gubernatorial Candidate

One of Byron Donald’s first votes as a newly elected Florida representative in Congress was to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.

As his political career took off, he continued to make claims of election fraud. In 2023, he said that he did not believe Joe Biden was a legitimate president, according to Vanity Fair. In 2024, Donalds avoided directly answering a question about whether he would certify the winner of that year’s election in an interview with CNN.

Donalds is running to take over Ron DeSantis’ seat as governor of Florida against Democrat David Jolly.

Reia Li is a California Local News Fellow.

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