In Michigan, election deniers currently account for one-third of the state’s 15-member congressional delegation. Six incumbents and one other Republican running for Congress in 2024 have falsely claimed that Trump won the 2020 presidential election, spread lies or conspiracies about its legitimacy, refused to certify the results, or took steps to undermine the integrity of that or subsequent elections. These include:
- Jack Bergman | House (MI–1)
Representative Jack Bergman has served in the House since 2016 and won reelection in 2022 with 60% of the vote in his very conservative Republican district. After the 2020 election, he helped spread the Big Lie and was one of four Michigan congressional Republicans who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn election results in Michigan and three other states due to suspicions of fraud. On January 6, 2021, Bergman voted against certifying President Biden’s electoral win and then also voted against both impeaching Trump for inciting the mob and establishing a special House committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol. - John Moolenaar | House (MI–2)
Representative John Moolenaar has served in the House since 2015, initially representing Michigan’s 4th Congressional District but running for reelection in the 2nd. In December 2020, he joined 105 other House Republicans in signing an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn election results in Michigan and three other states due to suspicions of fraud. Moolenaar’s 2024 campaign website includes a page on “election integrity,” where he claims to have “demanded that the secretary of state clean up Michigan voter lists and get dead people off the rolls,” a reference to some of the many conspiracy theories from 2020 that have since been debunked. - Bill Huizenga | House (MI–4)
Representative Bill Huizenga has served in the House since 2011 and was reelected in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement. In December 2020, he was among the House Republicans who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn election results in Michigan and three other states due to suspicions of fraud. In January 2021, Huizenga voted against impeaching Trump for inciting the violence at the Capitol. In early 2024 he joined other far-right House members in signing a nonbinding resolution declaring that Trump “did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” Just hours after the former president was found guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 presidential election, Huizenga tweeted: “The circus has come full circle. This trial was a sham and embodies the dangerous lawfare being utilized to undermine our system of justice.” - Tim Walberg | House (MI–5)
Representative Tim Walberg has served in the House since 2011, initially in the 7th Congressional District, and is a member of the conservative Republican Study Group. In the weeks after the 2020 election, he cast doubt on the legitimacy of the results and in December, he joined House Republicans in signing an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn election results in Michigan and three other states due to suspicions of fraud. On January 6, 2021, Walberg voted against certifying President Biden’s electoral win, and then later voted against both impeaching Trump for inciting the mob and establishing a special House committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol. - Tom Barrett | House (MI–7)
On January 5, 2021, Michigan State Senator Tom Barrett was one of 11 senators who sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress requesting that they “pursue every available option and procedure to examine the credible allegations of election-related concerns surrounding fraud and irregularities” in the election before certifying President-elect Biden’s electors the following day. When he first ran for Congress in 2022 (but lost, in part due to his anti-abortion extremism), he had expressed doubts about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, reportedly telling the Detroit Free Press, “It’s an unknowable thing. How many people mailed in absentee ballots that were ineligible to participate in the election? We can’t know for sure what effect that had. That’s why we have to stop it before it happens.” Barrett also said that he favors election reform, including a voter ID law that Governor Whitmer vetoed. - Lisa McClain | House (MI–9)
Representative Lisa McClain has served in the House since 2021 and won reelection in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement. As an incoming freshman, she signed a letter calling on then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to investigate election irregularities. On January 6, 2021, McClain voted against certifying President Biden’s electoral win, and then later voted against both impeaching Trump for inciting the mob and establishing a special House committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol. On January 7, 2021, she called on state and local officials to fix “deep flaws” in the election process. Her office cited Texas and Florida—where Trump won in 2020—as examples of states where the election had been handled properly and caused no concern about irregularities. - John James | House (MI–10)
Representative John James has served in the House since 2023 and as a rising star in the GOP, he had been expected to run for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan in 2024. Instead, he announced in February that he would run for the House again. When he lost his first bid for the Senate in 2020, James refused to concede and cast doubt on the integrity of Michigan’s electoral process despite lacking any evidence of irregularities. James ran unopposed in the GOP primary but since he initially won by less than 1%, his seat is considered vulnerable and Democrats are “aggressively working to flip the 10th Congressional District blue,” as the state chair told the AP.