Your Evening Briefing: Five States May Decide If the 2024 Election Is Stolen

Donald Trump failed to push aside President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and the 81.2 million American voters who elected him. But many followers of the twice-impeached Republican never stopped trying. Not only has the GOP pursued a nationwide effort to restrict voting access, but some in the party are looking to twist the election system into one that returns Trump to power (if he runs) whether he wins or not. Republicans who justified their efforts by falsely claiming election fraud have themselves sought to remove state officials who wouldn’t manufacture fake votes. They have changed the way elections are run in response to Trump’s conspiracy theories and nominated people for high office who parrot what’s come to be known as the “Big Lie.” Those candidates, for Congress and governor, could soon be in a position to certify the outcome of the 2024 election. With the next presidential campaign forming up, a team of Bloomberg journalists set out to find which states are most vulnerable to election interference—and what it means for voting this fall and in 2024. The bumper-sticker version of what we found: The 2022 vote should be fine. But 2024? Maybe not. Trump and his followers are pushing gubernatorial candidates who deny Biden’s victory—more than enough of them to (if they win) tilt a close race away from a winner. The future of US democracy it seems may rest with these five states.

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