Incumbent Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson defeated a Republican nominee who raised baseless questions in regards to the 2020 election.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Incumbent Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson defeated a Republican nominee who raised baseless questions in regards to the 2020 election.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who confronted dying threats after overseeing the 2020 election, has been reelected secretary of state of Michigan, in line with a race name by The Related Press.
Benson defeated Republican Kristina Karamo, a far-right candidate who has unfold a lot of baseless conspiracies about elections and different issues.
Karamo made a reputation for herself in 2020 by claiming, with out proof, that she witnessed election fraud in Detroit. On her podcast, she additionally pushed debunked concepts in regards to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and even the scientific idea of evolution.
“Darwinian evolution is a complete rip-off, it’s a full farce, it’s simply such a dumb idea,” she stated on one podcast reviewed by NPR.
Kristina Karamo
Jim Rassol/AP
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Jim Rassol/AP
Kristina Karamo
Jim Rassol/AP
Benson, nonetheless, has turn out to be one of many main state-level voices over the previous two years defending American elections.
Former President Donald Trump focused her for doing so, and shortly after the 2020 election, dozens of armed protesters visited Benson’s dwelling and he or she recounted later that she had heard that Trump as soon as prompt in a White Home assembly that she ought to be executed.
“There was no actual accountability for [Trump] or anybody else who used positions of authority to unfold misinformation,” Benson advised NPR final 12 months. “With out that accountability, with none penalties for anybody. … We should anticipate to see it proceed.”
In media appearances main as much as Tuesday’s election, Benson sounded the alarm about election deniers working for positions of energy throughout the voting system.
“We’re very a lot within the midst of a nationwide effort to discredit our elections,” Benson stated. “There shall be individuals who select to be politicians first and election directors second or in no way.”
First elected in 2018, after dropping her preliminary bid for the workplace in 2010, Benson is the previous dean of Wayne State College regulation college. She can also be the creator of a guide in regards to the function of secretaries of state in American democracy.
Karamo was one in all a lot of candidates working to supervise voting this midterms who say that the 2020 election was stolen. She was additionally a part of a coalition of candidates who stated they drastically wished to cut back voting entry consequently.
NPR’s Katherine Swartz contributed reporting.
