GOP Candidates Keep Echoing Trump’s 2020 Election Claims as Midterms Approach

Republican contenders in several key races continue to repeat former President Donald Trump’s false assertions that the 2020 election was stolen. In Georgia, Senate nominee Rep. Mike Collins ran an ad claiming Trump won the state and concluded with a staged shot at a “voting-machine” prop. Collins has also voiced support for compensating individuals prosecuted for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. In Michigan, Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a former House Intelligence Committee chair, has publicly refused to acknowledge a 2020 winner and has repeated claims that the Senate race was “stolen.”

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Trump’s post-2020 focus resurfaced in a primetime Oval Office address this summer, where he again alleged election vulnerabilities. The president has warned he will do “anything necessary” for “honest” elections and has threatened to stall congressional action on voting-restriction legislation. His refusal to endorse alternatives to Collins and his endorsement of a Texas attorney general who backs the 2020 narrative illustrate how the issue remains a bargaining chip within the party.

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A September poll by the University of California, San Diego found that only 49 % of Americans expect the upcoming midterm elections to be free and fair, a decline from pre-2024 levels. Conversely, a New York Times-Siena College poll reported that just 1 % of voters said election integrity is the top issue influencing their November vote.

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Georgia Secretary of State veteran Gabe Sterling, who defended the state’s 2020 results, said the “obsession” with the 2020 election is now limited to “die-hard activists” but noted that some hold influential positions on local election boards. Republican Sen. John Cornyn told reporters, “I think we should talk about 2026 and not 2020.” Michigan strategist Jason Roe observed that many officials echo Trump’s claims more as “red meat to the base” than as sincerely held beliefs, and he doubts any general-election candidate would fund a campaign centered on election-integrity rhetoric.

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• “It's really big with the media and the far edges of both parties," said Gabe Sterling, a veteran official with the Georgia secretary of state's office.” — Gabe Sterling, a veteran official with the Georgia secretary of state's office

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• “I would say things like, 'Georgia has the cleanest voter list in America,'" Sterling said.” — Gabe Sterling, a veteran official with the Georgia secretary of state's office

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• “Sponsor Message "Now there were some ballots that showed up at 5:30, I wish I were kidding, in a van, and that swung the election on us, and it happened to be here in Detroit," Rogers said at the time.” — Mike Rogers

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• “I think we should talk about 2026 and not 2020,” — Republican Sen. John Cornyn

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These statements illustrate the tension between persistent election-denial messaging and the strategic calculations of GOP leaders as the 2026 midterms near.

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