What prominent lawmakers have said.
Promising to accept election results used to be a given, but that may no longer be the case. With less than six months to go, top Republicans have either dodged or outright refused to reveal whether they’ll accept November’s outcome.
They appear to be taking a page from the playbook of Donald Trump, who has remained noncommittal and hinted that he might challenge the results (again). “If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results. I don’t change on that,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this month. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”
But does this mean that the rematch between President Joe Biden and Trump will lead to another insurrection? The GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee hasn’t ruled out political violence if he loses, saying “It always depends on the fairness of an election.”
Here’s how leading conservative lawmakers have handled questions about the unexpectedly contested subject.
Speaker Mike Johnson
In a statement to The New York Times, Speaker Mike Johnson’s spokesperson Taylor Haulsee said the Republican would “adhere to the rule of law” on accepting results, but he also wouldn’t be opposed to challenging them. “The speaker also recognizes the right of all candidates to contest election irregularities with litigation as appropriate,” Haulsee said.
It’s worth noting that Johnson voted against certifying Biden’s victory and he also signed onto a lawsuit that tried — and failed — to toss out millions of votes in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that had changed their voting rules during the coronavirus pandemic. In a recent interview with Politico, the speaker stood by his actions: “I would do the same thing today if the circumstances were presented.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
During a testy interview with NBC News, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio refused to commit to accepting the 2024 election results. When asked by host Kristen Welker whether he’d accept this year’s election outcome “no matter what,” Rubio replied, “No if it’s an unfair election, I think it’s going to be contested by each side.”
He instead blamed Democrats for sowing doubts about election credibility, saying they were “the ones that have opposed every Republican victory since 2000.” Welker pushed back against this claim by pointing out that even Democrats who had issues with election results conceded. It’s true, even though Hillary Clinton has called Trump an “illegitimate president” and accused him of voter suppression, she nevertheless accepted his surprise victory over her in 2016.
His comments are especially noteworthy both because Rubio is being floated as a possible vice presidential pick for Trump and because he certified then President-elect Joe Biden’s win just four years ago. “Democracy is held together by people’s confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results,” he said at the time.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has repeatedly evaded questions about whether he’d accept the election results as Trump continues to eye him as a potential vice presidential pick.
During his own Meet the Press interview, Welker asked the senator eight times whether he’d accept the results no matter who won and he refused to answer her each time. Instead, he repeatedly predicted that Trump would win in November and said he wouldn’t answer a “hypothetical question.”
Scott was among those who voted to certify the 2020 election — he also defended former Vice President Mike Pence’s actions that day. During a Republican presidential primary debate in August, he said Pence “absolutely” did the right thing when he certified Biden’s victory.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik
New York Rep. Stefanik stopped short of saying she would certify the 2024 election. When pressed on the subject by NBC News’ Meet the Press, she only committed to backing the results if “they’re constitutional.”
Stefanik also claimed in the same interview that the last election wasn’t fair, pointing to pandemic-era voting changes in states like Pennsylvania. She also alleged that gerrymandered congressional districts in New York were illegal.
“What we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing of the Constitution, not going through state legislators when it comes to changing election law,” she told the network at the time.
Stefanik is one of Trump’s most steadfast supporters, so it’s probably no surprise that she is another one of the former president’s potential running mates. She also currently wields a lot of power as the highest-ranking woman in House Republican leadership.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he would welcome the election results as long as it’s a fair contest.
When asked by NBC’s Meet the Press whether he’d accept the 2024 election results “no matter who wins,” the South Carolina lawmaker also said he would, like he did in 2020, provided there’s no “massive cheating.”
While it’s true that Graham accepted the outcome of the last election, he was also among those that a grand jury recommended face indictments in the Georgia election probe, where he along with Trump and his allies tried to overturn Biden’s win in the state. Ultimately, he was never charged, but he did come under fire after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger revealed that the senator called him to ask him about the possibility of tossing out votes that were legally cast. In response, Graham claimed he was just doing his job as a senator.
“I think the system in this country is getting off the rails and we have to be careful not to use the legal system as a political tool,” Graham told reporters at the time.
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance has said he’d accept the outcome of the 2024 election — with a major caveat. During an appearance with CNN’s “State of the Union,” he said he’d accept them “if we have a free and fair election.” And even though he expects Trump to win, he also signaled that Republicans “have to be willing” to challenge the results.
Vance has eagerly tried to prove his loyalty to Trump — in February, he told ABC News that if he were vice president in 2020, he would have told states to submit “multiple slates of electors” and let Congress decide.
In turn, the former president has not only recruited Vance as a campaign surrogate but now the first-term senator is rumored to be on Trump’s VP shortlist.
