With the 2028 presidential election already taking shape on the horizon, a cluster of Republican candidates who questioned or rejected the 2020 election results are running for governor and secretary of state in some of the most consequential swing states in the country. The offices they seek sit at the very center of how presidential elections are administered and certified.
Who Is Running and Where
In Arizona, U.S. Representative Andy Biggs is seeking the governorship. Biggs, who has represented the state in Congress since 2016, voted on January 6, 2021 to reject electoral votes from both Arizona and Pennsylvania. He had previously urged Arizona Republicans, including the state House speaker, to refuse to certify the state’s 2020 results, and publicly called for an audit while claiming widespread voter fraud without producing evidence. A subsequent Arizona Senate audit confirmed that Former President Biden won the state. Biggs reportedly sought a presidential pardon related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 outcome. He now faces incumbent Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November.
Also on the Arizona ballot is Alex Kolodin, a state representative and attorney running for secretary of state against Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes. Kolodin served as legal counsel on multiple lawsuits aimed at overturning Arizona’s 2020 results and represented some of the state’s fake electors. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes charged those electors with crimes, though the case was dismissed earlier this year. Kolodin was disciplined by the Arizona State Bar, receiving probation and mandatory ethics coursework. He has characterized bar complaints against him as coming from political opponents on the left.
In Georgia, healthcare executive Rick Jackson won his party’s runoff and will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, in the race for governor. Jackson made headlines for calling Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “Judas” — a reference to Raffensperger’s refusal to bow to pressure from President Trump to question the state’s certified 2020 results. Raffensperger did not survive his own primary. Jackson’s runoff opponent was Burt Jones, himself one of Georgia’s fake electors.
In Michigan, U.S. Representative John James — who initially refused to concede his own 2020 Senate race loss and cast doubt on those results — is running for governor. Wisconsin Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential results, is the GOP gubernatorial candidate in that state. Wisconsin held a primary on August 11. Republican candidates in Pennsylvania and Michigan have also raised questions about the validity of the 2020 presidential contest, and several swing-state secretary of state candidates carry similar records.
By the Numbers
6 swing states — including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin — have major statewide candidates with documented records of questioning or rejecting the 2020 results.
January 6, 2021 was the date Biggs voted against certifying electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania before Congress.
2028 is the next presidential election cycle, the year these candidates would hold office if elected, placing them in positions that directly govern how their states handle electoral certification.
0 of the candidates mentioned responded to inquiries asking whether they believe Biden won in 2020 or whether they would certify the 2028 results.
2023 marks when John James began serving in the U.S. House, following his contested 2020 Senate defeat in Michigan.
What It Means for 2028
The stakes extend well beyond individual races. In 2020, Trump pressed governors and secretaries of state in multiple states to delay or withhold their certification of results. Every official asked refused. The question now being put before voters is whether their successors would do the same.
Secretaries of state oversee election administration and play a direct role in certifying results. Governors hold the authority to sign off on certificates of ascertainment for presidential electors. Candidates who have already demonstrated a willingness to challenge certification — or who served as legal counsel in efforts to do so — would occupy precisely those roles during the 2028 cycle if elected.
The American electoral system has long relied on the willingness of state officials, regardless of party, to administer results faithfully. The structural pressures on that system have not eased since 2020, and the candidates now advancing through Republican primaries suggest the underlying disputes over election legitimacy remain a live issue inside the party heading toward the next presidential contest.
Category: Republic
Tags: Elections, Congress, Andy Biggs, Arizona