About
William Ligon is a Georgia state senator who supported efforts to call a special session of the Georgia General Assembly into session in order to overturn the state’s election results in favor of President Joe Biden. Ligon also has ties to some of the most prominent election deniers in circles close to former President Trump, having been present in the Willard Hotel War Room on Jan. 6.
Ligon was subpoenaed by prosecutors in Georgia and will have to testify in front of a grand jury about Donald Trump’s efforts to illegally sway the election results in the state.
January 6, 2021
- Ligon joined Atlanta attorney Preston Halliburton in the Willard Hotel War Room on Jan. 6 to discuss efforts to convince lawmakers in Washington to refuse to certify the results of President Joe Biden’s election win.
- Ligon is no longer in office but has said he only raised “valid concerns” in his attempts to overturn the presidential election. Sitting in the Willard Hotel on Jan. 6, Ligon later told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he saw “a lot of patriotic people” in Washington D.C. that day.
The Big Lie
- Ligon was one of the leading voices in the Georgia General Assembly pushing false claims of widespread election fraud. On Dec. 3, 2020, Ligon opened up his Senate Judiciary Committee to Trump lawyer Rudy Guiliani, who for six hours was allowed to spread election lies with little pushback from Republican lawmakers.
- On Dec. 17, 2020, Ligon and other Georgia Republican lawmakers released an “election fraud report,” claiming that “any reported results must be viewed as untrustworthy.” The report called for a special session of the Georgia Assembly to overturn the election results.
- Ligon and other Georgia state lawmakers joined Texas in its pursuit of a Supreme Court case to overturn election results in the Peach State.
- On Dec. 22, 2020, Ligon and another Georgia lawmaker, Brandon Beach, were among the plaintiffs to sue members of their own party in federal court in an attempt to stop Pence from certifying the election.
- On Jan. 2, 2021, Ligon, Beach and other Georgia lawmakers joined Big Lie-supporting Republicans in four other states when they wrote a letter asking Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of election results so GOP legislatures could investigate false claims of widespread voter fraud.
- On Jan. 5, 2021, Ligon joined more than 100 lawmakers from Georgia and four other swing states in signing a letter to Pence asking him to delay certification so Big Lie-supporting Republicans could investigate allegations of voter fraud.
Post-2020 Election Subversion
- On Feb. 8, 2021, the Georgia GOP’s Election Confidence Task Force—of which Ligon was a member—released a report calling for sweeping changes to the state’s election systems and voting rights in the wake of Donald Trump’s defeat. The report laid the groundwork for SB 202, the state’s controversial election reform law that has garnered harsh criticism from voting rights advocates. It included new rules about the election certification process that would allow for dissent in approving election results, restrictions on absentee and mail-in voting, and poll-watching rules that prohibit third-party observers to ensure free and fair access to voting.