The US Midterms Will Decide If the 2024 Election Can Be Stolen

The US is just a week away from the midterm elections, which will decide governors’ races in 36 states--and whether Democrats will keep their majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Some Republicans up for election, though, are still disputing the results of the last election. Taking their cue from former President Donald Trump, hundreds of GOP candidates falsely claim that Trump was the real winner in 2020 and that Joe Biden stole the election from him. In five key states where Trump tried and failed to overturn the results in 2020, Republican nominees for governor and other roles overseeing elections are pushing changes to election laws. If they succeed, it could be easier to dispute the outcome if Trump or another candidate tried to do that again in 2024, when the White House is next at stake. To measure how sound the US election system is, Bloomberg created an “Election Risk Index” that assesses how vulnerable states are to political election interference not just in 2022, but in the years ahead. Ryan Teague Beckwith, one of the reporters on the project, joins this episode to talk through the potential risk these candidates pose, especially for the 2024 presidential election. And US politics editor Mario Parker gives the latest on key races.

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