Democrats Spend $46 Million to Expose ‘Satanic’ Election Deniers — and More

Ryan Teague Beckwith
·5 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Republican candidates for the typically sleepy office of secretary of state are being hit by a $46 million barrage of ads highlighting their support for conspiracy theories, claims of demonic possession and attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

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In one ad, Minnesota secretary of state nominee Kim Crockett is shown calling herself the “election-denier-in-chief.” In Michigan, an ad shows secretary of state nominee Kristina Karamo saying that casual sex can lead to demonic possession. And in Arizona, an ad highlights Mark Finchem’s ties to QAnon, a conspiracy theory about a Satanic-worshipping cabal.

The ads come as polls show voters cite threats to democracy as a top issue, alongside inflation, abortion rights and immigration. Democrats, who are concerned about the potential for state officials to disrupt future elections, have dramatically ramped up spending in races for secretary of state and attorney general.

The targets of the ads by candidates and PACs associated with the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, the Republican Accountability Project and the iVote Fund, among others, include some of the most extreme election deniers on the ballot: Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano and Finchem. Mastriano and Finchem both were on the steps of the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack.

“My opponent is a dangerous extremist who wants to eliminate vote by mail and would overturn legitimate election results,” says Arizona Democratic secretary of state nominee Adrian Fontes in an ad from his campaign that criticizes Finchem. “I’m running for secretary of state to protect Arizona from extremism.”

An ad from the Democratic PAC Future Forward running in Arizona attacks Lake, Finchem and attorney general nominee Abe Hamadeh at the same time, saying “bad things come in three” and that they would take away “the right to vote.”

Finchem responded by calling Fontes a “far-left extremist” who “abused his power” as the Maricopa County recorder by attempting to send mail ballots to voters who hadn’t requested them during the coronavirus pandemic. The Lake campaign simply called the Republican Accountability Project “hacks.”

The false claim that Donald Trump actually won re-election worked for candidates to win nominations, given the majority of GOP primary voters still question the legitimacy of the 2020 election. There are 225 people on the ballot in November for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, US Senate or US House who have said the 2020 election was stolen or raised doubts about its legitimacy.

But it isn’t wearing as well now that the general election is underway. A CBS News poll in late August found that 72% of Americans believe US democracy is threatened, and most said the cause was “attempts to overturn elections.” A recent Monmouth poll found “elections and voting,” not typically a concern for voters in the past, was listed as a top issue, just after inflation and crime.

Many candidates who won Republican primaries on election denying claims are now trying to pivot to win independent voters in the general election, like Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon.

But for those running for secretary of state, the issue is unavoidable in races for secretary of state, a key position that approves voting machines and certifies elections in most states.

Along with Finchem, Karamo and Crockett, Jim Marchant in Nevada is also facing attack ads.

Sarah Longwell, executive director of the Republican Accountability Project, which is running $20 million in ads, said that despite its appearance on voters list of top issues, inflation and abortion rights are taking center stage.

“You want people to know these candidates are anti-democracy, but you also have to be aware that this just isn’t an issue that drives voting behavior in a way that something like abortion is,” she said.

As a result, some of the ads avoid direct discussion of election denying and paint the candidate as generally extreme or out-of-touch.

A PAC associated with the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State is running an ad featuring Karamo, who also said the 2020 election was “stolen,” saying in various clips that Democrats have a “satanic agenda” and describing abortion as “child sacrifice.” A similar ad from a PAC associated with the Democratic iVote Fund notes that she once said people could get “demonic possession” from casual sex and spoke at a conference of QAnon conspiracy theorists.

A handful of congressional candidates are also facing ads for election denial, including Ohio Senate nominee JD Vance, Nevada Senate nominee Adam Laxalt, Washington Senate nominee Tiffany Smiley, New Mexico Representative Yvette Herrell and House nominees J.R. Majewski and April Becker, who unsuccessfully sued to have her own loss in a 2020 congressional race in Nevada thrown out, according to data from AdImpact.

A spokeswoman for Majewski said the ads are an attempt to distract voters from issues such as inflation, adding that voters are “extremely concerned about election integrity and have voiced these concerns” with him on the campaign trail.

Ben Tribbett, a Democratic strategist in Virginia who is not working on the election-denying issue, said that running ads attacking election deniers is more effective as a strategy for boosting Democratic turnout than for persuading independent voters, who aren’t as concerned about the issue.

“It’s all about energizing the base,” he said.

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