Republicans have abandoned the idea of winning voters by presenting ideas and policies that people actually like. Instead, they want to win by making sure the other side doesn’t vote. Since the humiliating defeat in the 2020 election, Republican-controlled state legislatures have introduced and passed laws to restrict access to voting, especially in Democratic strongholds.
Despite having introduced 361 bills across 47 states that would restrict access to voting, Republicans fear the Trump stink will be too hard to swallow, even for some Republican voters. Now they are desperately trying to change their tune about the election results.
On Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that he accepts the results of the 2020 election, and urged Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, to focus on the upcoming midterm where the party wants to win back control of Congress.
“I accept the results of the election. … 2020 is over to me, I’m ready to march on and hopefully take back the House and the Senate in 2022,” Graham told reporters in South Carolina, according to The Hill.
While Graham, who voted to certify the 2020 results in January, said he accepted the results, he added that he would endorse making changes to election laws heading into 2022, including tighter voter ID requirements.
“I think what we need to do is reform election systems. … So I think it’s smart to reform our laws to make sure you are who you are,” he said.
Asked about Arizona, Graham added: “I don’t know what the audit is all about in Arizona … but I’m ready to move on.”
Graham’s remarks come as Trump continues to peddle his false claim that the election was “stolen” from him.
While most Senate Republicans voted against challenges to Biden’s Electoral College victory in Congress earlier this year — when a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol — they also stayed silent for weeks after the November election as Trump tried to cast doubt on the results in key states.
Those false claims appear to have taken hold in a significant swath of GOP voters, according to polling.
Six in 10 Republicans believe Trump’s false claim that the election was “stolen” from him, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last month. And a CBS News poll released over the weekend found that 67 percent of Republicans said that Biden wasn’t the legitimate winner of the 2020 election.
