Republicans who supported former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen suffered defeats in the race for Colorado’s midterm nominations.
The two Colorado names, Senate candidate Ron Hanks and County Secretary Tina Peters — who had sought the Republican nomination to be the state’s top election official — are among dozens of Republicans who are deniers of the 2020 presidential election result.
Research already indicated the defeat of both. Hanks lost the Senate primaries to businessman Joe O’Dea, who has repeatedly acknowledged that Democrat Joe Biden won the election. Hanks participated in the January 6th invasion of the Capitol, one of the biggest attacks on American democracy in history.
Peters, who was indicted for voter fraud and barred from overseeing voting in her county this year, lost the secretary of state nomination to Pam Anderson, a former county employee who also rejected Trump’s baseless allegations.
“I will continue my fight to restore the confidence of Colorado voters against lies and politicians or interest groups who seek to use election administration as a weapon to gain political advantage,” Anderson said after his victory.
The defeats come in a primary season that has been testing the resonance of Trump’s alleged election fraud, which has been rejected by officials and the courts, including judges he has appointed.
They also occur on the day that a congressional committee investigating January 6 heard the testimony of a former White House aide during the Trump administration. Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Trump called for the lifting of security measures at the time even though he was aware that his supporters were armed.
