Election deniers mostly lose in GOP primaries Tuesday

Tina Peters (Associated Press photo)

Republican primary voters have nominated more than 100 candidates who endorse Donald Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, but such candidates didn't fare well, generally speaking, in Republican primaries Tuesday.

The epicenter was Colorado. "In races where the outcome was a tossup, election deniers fared poorly," reports Jesse Paul of The Colorado Sun. "Indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters fared so poorly that she was slated to come in third in the Republican secretary of state’s primary to an Australian immigrant who lives in Yuma County and was making his first foray into politics. Peters, who claimed Tuesday night without evidence that she was the victim of election fraud, was even set to lose in her home county." The winner was Pam Anderson, "a former county clerk who previously led the state clerks’ association and defends the state's mail-in elections system," Steve Peoples of The Associated Press reports.

Also defeated in Colorado was state Rep. Ron Hanks, who "had also promoted lies about the last presidential election" and attended Trump's Jan. 6, 2021 rally, AP reports. He lost to Joe O'Dea, who now faces Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. The Sun notes, "Tens of thousands of unaffiliated voters cast ballots this year in Colorado’s Republican primaries, far more than" in 2018,when more races were contested.

"In Mississippi, Trump loyalist Michael Cassidy lost a runoff election to incumbent Rep. Michael Guest, who had voted to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack," AP reports. "Cassidy said in campaign speeches that Guest had done nothing to stop 'the persecution of Jan. 6 political prisoners'." Guest had placed second in the first primary, making him the underdog, so the outcome could signal a shift in voters' attitudes about Trump and his claim.

On the other hand, in a rural-Illinois contest of incumbents matched up by redistricting, "First-term Rep. Mary Miller, who campaigned alongside Trump over the weekend, defeated five-term Rep. Rodney Davis, who was considered more moderate," AP reports. "The primary victory all but ensures Miller will return to Congress for another term, given the heavy Republican advantage in her 15th Congressional District, which is the most Republican district in the state. Miller won just days after describing the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade as 'a victory for white life.' A spokesperson later said she had intended to say the decision was a victory for a 'right to life'."