ICYMI: GOP candidates cash in on Trump’s false election claims [Axios]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Axios: GOP candidates cash in on Trump’s false election claims
By Alayna Treene, Lachlan Markay
January 9, 2022

Key Points:

• GOP candidates at the top of tickets in the most competitive Senate races in the country are… feeding off the lies being perpetuated by Trump and his supporters. They’re not only using it to gain popularity among the MAGA base but also to fill their campaign coffers.

• Adam Laxalt: The Nevada Senate candidate… participated in 2020 election challenges and said he’s planning to start new challenges in 2022.

• Jim Lamon: The Arizona Senate candidate backed a number of lawsuits attacking the 2020 election results, including suing former Vice President Mike Pence for his role in certifying the results.

• Ron Hanks: Hanks attended the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally and said he marched with supporters to the U.S. Capitol… Hanks told the Denver Post he stands “by everything [he] did on the sixth of January.”

• After Nevada certified its results, Laxalt filed another lawsuit, which the state of Nevada dismissed. Laxalt has since threatened to preemptively prepare legal challenges to the 2022 election.

• He’s now fundraising off of those plans. In a Nov. 11 email to supporters, his campaign wrote: “In 2020, Adam Laxalt stood side-by-side with President Trump and fought for election integrity.”
  

• Lamon also funded security for the audit in Arizona’s Maricopa County. He’s launched Facebook campaign ads touting his lawsuits against Pence and Gov. Doug Ducey, and claims he’s “the only candidate who’s fought for Election integrity since Day One.”

• Days before Lamon jumped into the Senate race, he gave $2 million to the right-wing nonprofit Look Ahead America. It was a key player in efforts to overturn 2020 election results.

• Hanks hosted the Colorado elections conspiracy forum to discuss what he claimed were “election anomalies” and said Republicans “can’t be gracious losers.”

• In November 2021, he sued the Colorado secretary of state, alleging election fraud and misconduct in the 2020 election. That lawsuit is a key feature on his campaign website. In multiple email fundraising appeals for his Senate campaign, Hanks used his fight for “election integrity” as the hook to get donations.
  

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