how involved is finchem with the oath keepers?4, he told a local publication that he was a member of the oath keepers. an old campaign account that he maintained that has since been deleted asked people to join the oath keepers. on a since deleted facebook page, he posted several events for the arizona chapter of the oath keepers, of which he was a member. now, we asked finchem about this content. he just sent us a message back. he called -- he said cnn wasn't credible. he didn't respond to any of the individual allegations. he did delete one of his pinterest boards, post publication, that had some of this information on there. but we haven't heard him respond to any of the individual allegations in the story. >> all right, andrew, thank you so much. good to see you again. >> for the fourth time in oklahoma death row inmate is granted a stay of execution. coming up next, the case that has republicans and democrats agreeing. stay with us. this is xfinity rewards. our way of showing our appreciation. with rewards of all shapes and s

finchem ahead with only a quarter of the votes ahead by 183 votes.ake a quick look at the governor vote race right now for the republican nominee taylor robson separating 44 votes separating taylor robson and lake. as we were saying we're not gonna get a ton of these votes today. more of them are coming in tomorrow. anyone who's submitted mail votes they are not getting counted today. this race is tighter than it was expected to be. vaughn hillyard thank you for that. and not to be outdone, the arizona republican blame masters has been sure a maga message in his own campaign ads. >> psychopaths are running the country right now. you've got a biden, pelosi, chuck schumer, mark kelly. this is an invasion. we know what to do. we need to finish trump's wall. we need five times more border patrol, and we need technology to lock this border down. if we don't do these things right now, we're not gonna have a country. >> and i just want to point out to you we have the same situation. this is the senate republican nomination. only 25% of the voters in right n

finchem the trump backed candidate is already up nine. so that grows that could easily be double digits. he's in the best position i would say of any of those trump backed candidates. but real now real suspense in that gubernatorial race in arizona. we've been saying there had been a lot of suspense in this republican house primary in the third district. pete meijer republican freshman who voted to impeach donald trump. you can see here now that he trails by more than 5000 votes to trump backed challenger donald gibbs. there's a big gap between the mail-in vote in the same day vote. turns out there was a lot of same-day vote left around grand rapids. gibbs took the lion share of it and you see we haven't officially called it but this is a grim situation for meijer. >> tell me again for our viewers who didn't hear earlier of this concept of strategic voting. there were some democrats who were engaged in that, in this race. there were democrats who in a vacuum would rather have peter meijer as their member of congress but thought that gibbs

mark finchem is currently ahead.ls like terry lake have also called for the certification of the 2020 election. they look like they're on their way to victory, and just heart to mark finchem ali and i put the question to him and i said is your election fair? and he said, we will have to see, what comes out here in the hours ahead, because that's where it's complicated. if suddenly, mark finchem winds but carrie lake is on the brink of not winning what does that conversation look like? because we know that carry lake has already thrown out unfounded claims her and specific claims abroad that she has not been able to backup, will they ultimately come to her defense if she loses? >> but even that von, think she might be accusing you throwing the election. want to show the viewers just we've been talking about. this is the arizona attorney general race where hamid and the trump backed candidate is the spread here is 46 votes. look at the secretary of state election again. finchem ahead with only a quarter of the votes ah

back in 2014, a guy named mark finchem was running for a state how seniors are, and said in an interview, i'm an oath keeper, committed to the exercise of limited constitutional governments. at the time, the average american likely knew little, if anything, about the oath keepers. but in the intervening years, the far-right group has become an almost household name, particularly for the role the oath keepers played in sack and capillary six. since, that they've been under intense scrutiny for both the committee investigating direction, the january six committee, and the department of justice. last night, mark finchem, th self described oath keepers as well as a supporter of qanon conspiracy theories and an election denier, won the republican nomination for secretary of state in arizona. a key swing state. how is that for a turn of events? he's not alone. in arizona, election denier blake masters, like finchem, also endorsed by donald trump, when the republican nomination for u.s. senate, and will challenge incumbent mark kelly. and far right candidate curry -- who is running for the repu

last night, mark finchem, the self described oath keepers as well as a supporter of qanon conspiracyelection denier, won the republican nomination for secretary of state in arizona. the key swing spade. how is that for a turn of events? he's not alone. in arizona, election denier blake masters, like finchem, also endorsed by donald trump, when the republican nomination for u.s. senate, and will challenge incumbent mark kelly. and far right candidate curry -- who is running for the republican nominee for governor, and yes, with trump's support, claimed with no evidence that her campaign detected some stealing going on a week before the primary. thanks to some late night vote dumps, she is leading in a race that is too close to call, something that she would undoubtedly call fraud had the dumps gone for her opponent. oh, the irony. we have a conservative columnist and the policy editor at the bulwark. she joins us now. thank you so much for joining us tonight. the republican party of lincoln and eisenhower is now not just the party of trump, but the pardon of mark finchem. >> they are

i have no question that mark finchem will put his finger on the scale. he's made that clear, in fact, shortly after the election in 2020 he said, you know what? we need to come up with a villain in this story, and she said let's make it the board of supervisors and that's exactly what you've seen through the audit and even today. minute by minute, we're being attacked for this election that we ran on twitter and elsewhere and there's sifrmly mply no bas it and they're attacking the foundations for democracy and we're saying the facts and were there a couple of hiccups, sure. there was a smoothly-run election and as i said before this election if kari lake or someone else has problems with this selection they need to let us know and they need to make us aware of it because issues are not happening that can affect the outcome one way or the other. >> alyssa, you raise it. they were open, and election deniers and it happened in multiple states. what did this tell you about your pert. it's ine givicly going in the wrong direction, and i hate to get political

meanwhile, in arizona, mark finchem, a 2020 ection denier, won the republican primary for secretary oftate, overseeing elections. and, michigan republican congressman peter meijer lost his primary bid. he had voted to impeach mr. trump over the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. we'll have much more, after the news summary. a sitting member of congress, republican representative jackie walorski of indiana, was killed today in a car crash. it happened as the 5-term representative was traveling in her district. two young aides also died in the accident. walorski was seen as a rising star in gop ranks. she was 58 years old. president biden has signed an executive order to help women who cross state lines for abortions. it offers breaks on medicaid costs for states where abortion is legal, so they can assist women from states where it is not. activists had urged mr. biden to do even more, but the white house defended his actions today. >>he president has been very clear that he's going to do everything that he can, it doesn't stop with this, but we also understand he can't be the only

and in the arizona elections, republicans have picked trump-backed conspiracy theorist mark finchem as secretary of state. >> good luck with that. >> republicans voted to impeach trump were on the ballot. we'll tell you how they fared. nbc's steve kornacki is going to break it down. >>> also this morning, house speaker nancy pelosi undeterred by china's threats visits taiwan, sitting for a series of high-profile meetings, while pledging strong u.s. support. knowing her value. and the value of democracy. good morning, welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, august 3rd. what a night, joe. >> it was really a night. there's a massive headline coming out of kansas. a massive headline that is reverberating around washington in both democratic and republican circles and that, of course, has to do with the kansas voters' decision to just say no to republican legislators, deciding the future of decisions that are made by their wives, by their daughters, by their loved ones. and it's astounding. this comes from a state that voted overwhelmingly to protect, you know, it doesn't -- i don't -- y

mark finchem is projected to win the republican nomination to oversee voting arizona as's secretary of state. in the senate primary, blake masters also endorsed by the future president is projected to win the nomination in arizona. in michigan, nbc news projects tudor dixon has won the republican nomination for the state's governor. the former conservative media personality won an endorsement from president trump just last week and faces off against gretchen whitmer in november. also in michigan, nbc news projects john gibbs the winner in the republican primary for the state's third congressional district. he is the trump endorsed challenger to republican congresswoman peter meyer. in missouri, the state attorney general eric schmitt easily won the primary. former president trump gave a half hearted endorsement in that race saying he was supporting eric, no last name given. schmitt will face trudi bush valentine. let's go back to arizona, steve kornacki, and look at that governor's race being watched very closely. the dynamic has changed a bit overnight. >> yeah, it did. it was the ove

and then prominent election denier mark finchem is going to win the secretary of state primary.ed by former president donald trump wins with 41% of the vote, beating out businessman bo lane and state representative shauna bolick. you got it look at mark finchem there, he is an election denier who now is someone who if he were to go on and win, would be in that position of secretary of state in control of the elections. >> that is really the -- in some ways the key takeaway because sometimes folks don't pay attention to the secretary of state line. but if you have an election denier overseeing elections in the state like arizona, that could have massive applications in 2024. blake masters winning is considerable. in some ways most far right candidate backed by peter teal, also an election denier, mark kelly's camp getting a matchup they feel good about, but nothing is for sure in a midterm where traditionally the out party's passion is highest. it is really the secretary of state race, also interesting the fact that kari lake running the top of the ticket, trump-backed election d

the question had been finchem -- it is finchem, masters and kari lake, do they all win their primaries here. noticeable -- notable, i believe, the difference here. kari lake running about nine points behind taylor robson as this big early batch of votes gets counted up. kari lake behind where as masters is close,he but running ahead with that same group of votes. there's a bit ofsa a disconnect between theof two of them there. that's interesting. but this is the way it goes in arizona. we get just this massive, massive batch of votes from all these counties just after 11:00 p.m. eastern. and it's going to slow down. once you get that initial batch from all these counties. a big one still to come. pima county, second biggest in the state where tucson is, let's look to see that light up. i think that will add a little more clarity here. but once you get these initial batches in arizona from all these counties, we'll get some more as the night progresses. that will be votes that were cast in person today. and then i think it's really tomorrow, there's a pause there. and you're going to ge

mark finchem who essentially held the state government a hostage until he got his fake audit and ended up ripping up ripping off american students to the tune of millions of dollars. and there's a person running for attorney general whose threatened to arrest politicians if they certify the election of 2020. this is not normal. these are not normal republicans. the republican party has been taken over and they are a threat to democracy. these very radical fringe i would say republicans, and unfortunate to have power in the republican party. >> what do you think the most effective message on that is. obviously, the theory that biden had in the beginning was, show the government can work, to try to craft some bipartisan legislation which he has managed to get past, and to lower the temperature and to basically isolate the more fringe elements. in the intervening two years, those elements have been pizzazz to sized, and control the party. but even more so than they did before. even more with trump railing on his budget platform. the question becomes, what's the message the eu think people

in other results from arizona, mark finchem won the republican primary for arizona secretary of state. finchem is a state lawmaker and a member of the far-right oath keepers who has been subpoenaed by the house january 6 committee for his actions in washington, d.c., on january 6 and for his involvement in attempting to overturn biden's victory in arizona in 2020. another election denier in arizona, kari lake, is leading in the republican gubernatorial primary, but the race is too close to call. meanwhile, rusty bowers, arizona's speaker of the house, lost his bid for state senate seat, losing to a trump-backed candidate. last month the republican party in arizona censured bowers for telling the house january 6 committee that trump and his lawyer rudy giuliani pressured him to overturn biden's 2020 election victory in arizona. in other primary election news, missouri attorney general eric schmidt has won missouri's republican senate primary, defeating a crowded field including missouri's disgraced former governor eric greitens. in michigan, republican congressmember peter meijer, who

it's hard to imagine a split-ticket voter who says i'll take finchem and katie hobbes. i can't imagine that. is the state party prepared to run essentially a slate strategy to say if you put this whole crew in, you're essentially breaking arizona democracy and u.s. democracy perhaps as well? >> i mean, absolutely. we have to run this way. it's not just the governor's office or the secretary of state office or the attorney general's office. we have -- there's too much at stake in the to focus on all of these races and, again, because of the damage that can be done to our democracy. these folks are not based in reality, and honestly i don't know how poem take them seriously as candidates outside of their -- of their base. >> then how did they -- the thing is that the base of the republican party is choosing these folks. they are not being forced to. they have choices among people and in this case they have chosen all of the trump people. does that mean that there is enough of a base do you think beyond the primary to elect these people to office in november? >> roughly a

victory , you mentioned this earlier, for the trump-endorsed candidate for secretary of state, mark finchem a state representative, has been linked to qanon, and recently said he believes the devil conspired to steal the 2020 election. finally, we are still watching the governors race between another election denier, kari lake, who former president trump has been stumping for for months , he was here a few days ago stumping for her, and karrin taylor robson, who was endorsed by former vice president mike pence. we should say ms. lake declared victory today, but that is premature. the results are still not in. if lake were to lose the nomination, she has spent weeks sowing doubt into the election press, a direct play from the trump playbook. judy: jessica, we heard stephanie mention mark finchum, the nominee to be secretary of state in arizona. he is one of six nominees to be secretary of state around the country who are election deniers. how important do we think that will be not just for november, but for future elections? jessica: i think it is crucially important. in 2020, a lot of the r

these are a lot of people in some cases, including finchem, who have talked about wanting to overturn elections they didn't like, wanting to make it easier for people to not certify elections. that's really scary if those people are literally driving the car. so i'm very concerned by these elections. hopefully they're not over. >> there are also people who say if they themselves don't win, obviously there's some sort of cheating going on. they're rigging it from the get go. >> i think we have a candidate in michigan who's in fourth place and will not concede. this is crazy, but trump made it permissible to challenge results that you see in front of you and just call the whole thing rigged. >> do last night's results show us how much influence trump still has in terms of endorsements or his tactics? >> i think it's trumpism. i'm not sure how influential trump himself is. i don't think he thinks he's that influential which is why he endorsed the erics instead of actually picking one. that impulse to call an election rigged, the impulse to see what you can get away with and dare someone

what happens if people like mark finchem are given the levers of the election infrastructure?sis? >> at best, we enter a guaranteed constitutional crisis. at worst, we stop having free and fair elections. i mean, yeah, this is really scary. the one thing i would say that is totally fascinating to me is that almost all of the states where you have these people running our purple states, right? like arizona, these trumpy candidates won, but they barely made it out, right? so, you are seeing, these guys are gonna come up, you know, this is not mississippi. these are purple states. so you have terrible trumpy candidates that barely can win a primary, and again, with all of this trumpism, it's trumpism wins you a primary, but gets you in the general, as we saw with trump. so, i do think this is a set that's particularly bad for republicans. of course, having one party turn against democracy is bad for all of us, ultimately. but i think in this short gap, i think it will hurt republicans. eventually, the, who knows where this goes? only got. >> well, to pick up on that point, maria,

carey lake for governor, mark finchem for secretary of state and others.ould have a be having a discussion tomorrow about despite the evidence came from those hearings that republican voters are choosing to continue the lie and move their statewide set officials in that direction as. well >> thank you so much. now i want to turn to congressman rudy cayuga a democrat who represents much of phoenix, and west of the city. congressman, we just spoke to von about allegations the republicans are saying there may be election stealing in their own primary. >> and less they win. >> exactly. but these are republican voters, it's insane on some level. how worried are you about november even if democrats hold the house given the level of election denialism in the republican party? >> listen, if this insurrectionist trifecta wins, arizona is in a very serious situation. they will do everything they can to undermine any legitimate election. they will pass laws and even make fake laws to really undermine the election and it will affect everyone, democrats, republicans an

again, question has been, finchem it is, finchem, masters, and carry like, do they all win their primaries here? noticeable, notable i believe, the difference, here carey lake running about nine points behind taylor robeson as this big early batch of votes get counted up. can't be like running behind whereas masters is running ahead. close but running ahead with that same group of votes. there is a bit of a disconnect between the two of them there. that is interesting. but this is the way it goes in arizona. we get just this massive, massive batch of votes from all of these counties. just after 11:00 eastern. and it's going to slow down. once you get that initial batch from -- a big one to come in by the. white pima county, second biggest in the state where tucson is, let's look to see where that lights up. that will add a little bit more clarity. once you get these initial batches in arizona from all of these counties, we will get some more as the night progresses, that'll be votes that were casted in person today. and again i think it's way tomorrow there's gonna be a pause there, and yo

the results of last night's election made clear for secretary of state, for example, mark finchem herepublican legislator in arizona, one of the leading voices in denying the results of the 2020 election that joe biden won the state of arizona he is going to be the republican nominee for the secretary of state, the top election official >> trump's candidate, mark finchem, who acknowledged having ties to the oath keepers and was in washington on january 6th. >> this is insane. we can't let a guy who wanted to overthrow the last election oversee future elections i wouldn't keep using wally as my cue card guy if he started undermining me by writing stuff i didn't approve of like, "wally is the best. he's the most popular. he should host this show." wait a second. [ laughter ] damn it! wally. i'd be mad, but what can i say i agree with you you would be a better host wait [ laughter ] just stop it the point is we need to stop these people now, which is why it is encouraging to see the justice department stepping up its investigation of the coup attempt. they're reportedly asking witnesses

>> you know, one thing to just have one there, but mark finchem, he is someone who helped plan, helpednd someone who has continued to push this idea of a conspiracy theory. and actively advocate for essentially the overthrowing of our elections mark finchem is a danger to the state of arizona. he is a state danger to our country. he if he is secretary of state, he will put partisan politics over the constitution here in arizona. that is crucial especially with the battleground state. >> in terms of the harm for voters in your states. secretary of state is in a position i think of the month almost every voters and everyday people in your state before 2020 but now i think people understand that that is someone standing in the void protecting democracy. does it matter? i'm so sorry we're gonna have to leave it there because we have steve kornacki with some breaking news on election results. so retinol bolding, thank you so much. >> steve, what do you got? >> we have a call and kansas. nbc news now projecting that in the referendum to amend the state constitution to remove they right to ab

trump-endorsed candidates were on the ballot who deny the 2020 election results nbc news projects that mark finchem has won that race. >> in washington state, two house republicans are voting for reelection both jamie herrera and her opponent >>> the death toll from the mckinney fire in california has risen to four. it's the largest wildfire this year in the golden state, tearing through more than 56,000 acres of grass, dry timber and brush since it began on friday here's miguel almaguer >> reporter: after quickly igniting into the state's largest and deadliest inferno this season, california's mckinney fire is still a blowtorch, ripping across forest land as it takes lives and threatens nearly 5,000 structures >> i look out the window, big orange glow. and all of a sudden, man, it's here >> reporter: frank oldfield was lucky and saved his home during an epic firefight. but many of his neighbors lost everything after two people were discovered inside a car unable to outrun the flames, we learned two more bodies were found at separate homes. >> as dry as the fuels were and as hot as the weather's be

in the fight to oversee state elections as secretary of state, republicans chose mark finchem, who was in washington january 6 and said he wouldn't have certified the 2020 results. >> when you steal something, that's not really a win. that's a fraud. >> reporter: elections experts are worried these types of upon candidates could be victorious in november. >> these election deniers in offices that oversee elections, or have some responsibility for the democratic process in those states could work substantially to try to undermine that process and create chaos and confusion. >> reporter: in michigan, former tv host tudor dixon won the g.o.p. nomination for governor. she also won't say if mr. biden won. >> we have to make sure our elections are secure, and what happened in 2020 doesn't happen again. >> reporter: michigan republicans also chose former trump official john gibbs over incumbent peter meijer, who voted to impeach the former president. >> the gibs-trump agenda is too conservative for west michigan. >> reporter: why are democrats doing this? they believe in title races. trump-ba

in the fight to oversee state elections as secretary of state, republicans chose mark finchem, who waswashington on january 6th and said he wouldn't have certified the 2020 results. >> when you steal something, that's not really a win. that's a fraud. >> reporter: elections experts are worried these types of candidates could be victorious in november. >> these election deniers in offices that oversee elections or have some responsibility for the democratic party process in the states could work substantially to try to undermine that process and create chaos and confuse. >> reporter: in michigan, tudor dixon won the gop nomination for governor. she also won't say if mr. biden won. >> we have to make sure our elections are secure. and what happened in 2020 doesn't happen again. >> reporter: michigan republicans also chose former trump official john gibbs over incumbent congressman peter meijer who voted to impeach the former president. hoping he would win the primaries. >> the gibbs agenda is too conservative for west michigan. >> reporter: so why are democrats doing this? well, they bel

mark finchem, who acknowledged having ties to the oath keepers, and was in washington on january 6th. for voters like olivia foster, trump's influence remains strong. >> i think that there's more people supporting him now than before. >> reporter: but another republican voter, matt kenney, tells us he's exhausted. >> i can't just keep being dragged, like, through this over and over again, to keep saying, hey there was voter fraud, and then we say, okay, show it to us and then they show us nothing. >> reporter: and linsey, debates like these are playing out in critical primaries across the country. the question many republicans are asking is whether these trump-endorsed candidates are truly the strongest to take on democrats in november. linsey? >> some consequential elections there. whit, thank you. >>> we go now to kansas, where abortion is on the ballot tonight. voters are deciding whether to change the state's constitution, which considers abortion a fundamental right. abc's rachel scott is there. and rachel, this is the first time that we're seeing abortion on the ballot since roe

senate candidate blake masters and secretary of state candidate mark finchem who says he wants to eliminateines. >> paper ballots, hand counting on one day. we can do that. we used to do it. >> reporter: election experts say that would mean months-long counts. 2020 deniers, despite no evidence of widespread fraud, won. and not just in arizona. >> thank you, michigan. >> reporter: but in michigan this week, republican gubernatorial nominee tudor dixon. >> do you believe donald trump won the 2020 election in michigan, yes or no? >> yes. >> reporter: now dixon is dodging that question. >> there were some things that happened in michigan that didn't happen in other states which are very concerning. >> reporter: these wins the latest in the steady advance by those sowing did yo ing distrus elections. >> i believe it was stolen, yeah. i mean, i believe that, umm, there were enough irregularities that we need to do an audit. >> reporter: and then there's michigan's secretary of state candidate who doesn't believe the 2020 results. election liars on state ballots show trump's grip on the gop, celeb

senate candidate blake masters and mark finchem who says he wants to eliminate all voting machines. > and hand counting. we can do it. we used to do it. >> reporter: 2020 deniers despite no evidence of widespread fraud won, and not just in arizona. >> ah, thank you, michigan. >> reporter: but in michigan this week republican gubernatorial nominee tudor dixon. >> yes or no do you believe that donald trump legitimately won in 2020 in michigan? >> yes. >> reporter: now dixon is dodging that question. >> there were some things that happened in michigan that didn't happen in other states, which are very concerning. >> reporter: these wins are just the latest in the steady advance of those sowing distrust. the republican nominee of secretary of state running to oversee his state's elections. he told us this earlier this year. >> i believe it was stolen, yeah. i believe that there were enough irregularities that we need to do an audit. >> reporter: and then there's michigan christina curomo, another secretary of state candidate who doesn't believe the 2020 results. election liars on state ba

the team just uncovered that mark finchem shared a treason watch list on social media.os of barack obama, another arguing against gun safety measures, depicts jews being rounded up by gnazis. he declined to comment on this important reporting. >>> new york's most powerful democrat enforcing jerry nadler over carolyn maloney in next week's contentious primary. chuck schumer is the first to choose between the two veteran committee chairs who ended up in the same district because of this year's redistricting process. >>> battleground money woes, the republican senate campaign committee canceling millions of dollars in ad buys across some of the most competitive battleground states this cycle. the "the new york times" reporting the gop campaign arm has slashed $10 million across arizona, minnesota and wisconsin since the beginning of this month. the committee spokesperson says it comes in an effort to spend the money in the most efficient manner. this quick programming note, join dana bash as she goes inside the fight against the world's oldest prejudice. this special repor

senate candidate blake masters and secretary of state candidate mark finchem, who says he wants to eliminate all voting machines. >> paper ballots, hand counting on one day. we can do that. we used to do it. >> reporter: election experts say that would mean months-long counts. 2020 deniers despite no evidence of widespread fraud won. and not just in arizona. >> thank you, michigan. >> reporter: but in michigan this week republican gubernatorial nominee tudor dixon. >> yes or no, do you believe donald trump legitimately won the 2020 election in michigan? >> yes. >> reporter: now dixon is dodging that question. >> there were some things that happened in michigan that didn't happen in other states which are very concerning. >> reporter: these wins are just the latest in the steady advance by those sowing distrust in u.s. elections being put on the november ballot. in nevada jim marchant is the republican nominee for secretary of state running to oversee his state's elections. he told us this earlier this year. >> i believe it was stolen, yeah. i mean, i believe that there were enough irregulari

mark finchem, republican candidate for secretary of state in arizona, is an election denier. so is christina karamo, republican nominee for secretary of state in michigan, and dickson, republican nominee for governor of michigan. there is eric schmidt, missouri 's governor for senate, the secretary of state for indiana, and doug mastriano from pennsylvania, was allen for secretary state now yeah. adam laxalt, for nevada, and jim marchant, nevada's republican nominee for secretary of state. all election deniers. they do not believe in liberal democracy. until today, in 2022. it was the republican playbook here to give the victor playbook, and to give what they want. even continuing to call it fascism. jason stanley, a professor of philosophy on how fascism works, the politics of austin them. kimberly crenshaw, a pioneering scholar and writer on civil rights, critical race theory, and the law. she is the founder of critical race theory, in fact, and the distinguished professor of law of the ucla in columbia university. they both join me now. jason, let's start with you, and let

they include trump-endorsed state representative mark finchem, who sought to overturn trump's 2020 lossstate lawmaker shawnna bolick, who sponsored a bill to allow lawmakers ignore election results and choose their own presidential electors. in washington state, congressmembers jaime herrera beutler and dan newhouse face republican primary challengers. they were two of the 10 house republicans who voted to impeach former president trump over the january 6th insurrection. in missouri, former president trump on monday delivered his endorsement in a crowded race of 19 republicans seeking to replace retiring republican senator roy blunt. on the eve of the primary, trump wrote, "eric has my complete and total endorsement!" there are two people named eric among the 19 candidates vying for missouri's open senate seat missouri attorney general eric schmitt and eric greitens, the former governor. greitens is attempting a political comeback after a report commissioned by missouri's legislature in 2018 found he sexually assaulted and physically abused a woman, before blackmailing her to cover up h

but you have a potential full slate of election deniers in a key battleground state, one of whom, finchem, who's the secretary of state nominee. if he ends up being the secretary of state, he's going to have oversight over the way elections are conducted in this critical battleground state and has disregard for the truth when it comes to the 2020 election. that presents a real problem to the democracy overall. >> congresswoman, how concerned are you about the next governor and to their point the secretary of state in arizona. >> i don't think it will be kari lake. i think she will lose. but i think republicans need to wake up. people like mike pence and republicans who went in and, you know, supported lake's opponent, you know, just a few weeks ago, they should have been in there a long time ago. and appeasing donald trump and his, you know, conspiracy theories, this has gone on way too long. and, you know, trying to, you know, tiptoe around it, you know, we can't be playing being neville chamberlains to donald trump's conspiracies and trying to humor him. we've got to deal with this canc

kari lake, the trump-backed candidate for governor and also mark finchem, secretary of state. possibility is that of all the swing states, if the trump-alined, trump-backed candidates win their primaries tonight in arizona, arizona will be fielding a slate of republican candidates that is more in tune with trump on the 2020 question than any other republican party in any other swing state in the country, and i think that raises an important question for november. again, it has to do with mark kelly, the incumbent democrat seeking re-election. democrats need kelly to win to hold on to the united states senate, to really have a chance to hold on to the united states senate. this is a crucial race for democrats to win. remember, it was a biden state in 2020, arizona, but the margin was .03 of one point and given where biden stands in the polls right now, given how mid-term elections play out. they usually favor the opposition party, work against the white house party, kelly on paper is a extremely vulnerable incumbent. the question is if the republicans nominate this trump-aligne

mark finchem, not a lot polling, but certainly formidable here.ing about, the potential that arizona is say swing state. arizona is one of the most crucial states on the senate battleground map in terms of determining which parties is going to end up in control of the senate after this election. joe biden won arizona in 2020. but his margin was less than 10,000 votes. on paper, a state that biden won that barely in a midterm climate like this should be very, very ripe for republicans to win in the midterm year. they are going to potentially, potentially, if they nominate these trump aligned candidates, field a slate of candidates more aligned with donald trump and his claims about the 2020 election than in any other swing state here in 2022. so it sets up a very potentially interesting general election test if this is the slate of candidates republicans choose to nominate in arizona between a climate, a political climate that is extremely unfavorable for democrats, extremely favorable for republicans, a state where that should play to republicans'

blake masters won the senate nomination, mark finchem won the nomination for secretary of state.n this to their advantage, trending blue to two democratic senators now. the question is can democrats trend that to their advantage some. >> i know in the senate race mark kelly they're pretty pleased blake masters won. they think he is easier to beat, but the question is, you know, in these races if these candidates are already saying there's cheating happening in an election they won against a republican what is going to happen in november? it's going to be just as chaotic and very tumultuous for the state of arizona who might have to go through all of this again. >> and i mentioned the michigan race. let's show the scoreboard, again. ten house republicans voted to impeach donald trump. you have six now lost their primaries or decided not to run. there's two out in washington state. we don't have any votes yet. two washington state republicans had primary challenges yesterday. republicans are furious that the democrats are putting money in against peter meyer. then you dump several

that sounds a lot like lake's fellow arizona republican, another nominee for secretary of state mark finchem is also saying. >> i did not know that a little over a year ago the act of standing up for you about a suspicious election that has since been proved to be irredeemably compromised would ignite a nationwide populist movement to regain control over our governments, and to trigger my pursuit to be your next secretary of state. ladies and gentlemen, we know it and they know it. donald trump won. [applause] >> we do not in fact know it because it's not true, because donald trump lost by millions of votes. then there's doug mastriano, the trump endorsed gubernatorial nominee in pennsylvania. he was on the capitol on the steps during the insurrection. he was one of the plotters of the attempted coup. he was one of those involved in the fake elector scheme. >> when you have something, the mini voting system is intentionally and purposely designed with inherent errors to create systematic fraud and influence election results, and we have 28 states, and putting battleground states we have a pr

the results of last night's elections make clear for secretary of state, for example, mark finchem, a republican legislator in arizona, one of the leading voices in denying the results of the 2020 election that joe biden won the state of arizona. he's going to be the republican nominee for the secretary of state, the top election official. the republican senate candidate in arizona, blake masters, someone also supported by former president trump, also has raised questions and denied the results of the election. he'll be running head to head with senator mark kelly, the democrat. of course, this will be one of the most closely watched senate races in the country. also in michigan last evening, peter meijer, a first-term member of congress, was defeated by john gibbs, another election denier. peter meijer is one of ten republicans who voted for the impeachment of donald trump. clearly that cost him at the ballot. here in missouri, certainly an interesting race for the republican senate contest. republicans basically are breathing a sigh of relief that the attorney general here, eric sch

here is mark finchem, state legislature, running for republican nomination for secretary of state in arizona. he, too, has echoed trump's claims about the 2020 election and has trump's endorsement. it raises the possibility you could have three trump-backed candidates running on the ticket in arizona this november. it could be the most pro-trump -- trump's claim of the 2020 election slate of republican candidates in any swing state. we show you mark kelly trying to survive in that senate race, trying to survive and keep the democratic majority in the senate. if that trump aligned slate represents the republican party in arizona, would that hurt republican chances in the general election in arizona? that's something that could emerge. here is a list of ten republican members of congress, the ten who voted to impeach donald trump following january 6th last year. we've been tracking what happened to them in 2022. you had one, david valadao who won his primary in california. donald trump didn't weigh in in that primary. he did weigh in in tom rice's primary and he was soundly defeated in

mark finchem backed by trump, he gets the check mark. then the attorney general republican primary, the trump backed candidate again gets the check mark. so trump at this point if the results hold will sweep. he also gets a win in arizona where rusty bowers actually spoken from the january 6th select committee goes down from the beat. >> and we should mention all those trump backed candidates are election deniers. some of them have said they want to fundamentally change how elections are run in that state and even potentially give the legislature the opportunity to reverse election results, so that is a really, really crucial state, and these are crucial positions. >> that's exactly right. i'll just add that's why that secretary of state race is so important because they control in the state of arizona. >> how about in missouri? because an eric won. >> yeah, it was not eric lasao, cnn vice producer in the morning. it was eric schmidt. knew greitens couldn't win so he endorsed the irices, and for my opinion he gets a half win endorsement

the challenges are candidates like kari lake, like mark finchem in arizona, like blake masters in arizonae to pivot and to persuade those independent voters, suburban women, moderate voters that they're going to be able to move the needle on issues that affect people at home. remember, in polls, over and over and over again we see americans list inflation and the economy as their top issues. not a lot of polls, probably zero that suggest that any group of general election voters put election denialism or any aversion of that poll question as the top priority for them. so if you are someone like kari lake and you have risen to prominence very quickly, very dramatically based on this messaging, pivoting and trying to rebill yourself as the kind of person who is a champion of the issues that these moderate and centrist voters say they care about is just an enormous, enormous, enormous challenge. >> matthew, all of this brings us to cpac and victor orban. his speech was so filled with hate even one of his own advisers resigned in protest. yes, as we said, he got a standing ovation from the co

senate candidate blake masters and secretary of state candidate mark finchem, who says he wants to eliminate >> paper ballots, all counted in one day. we can do that. we used to do it. >> reporter: election experts say that would mean months long counts. not just in arizona. >> thank you, michigan. >> reporter: but in michigan this week, republican gubernatorial nominee tudor dixon. >> yesterday, do you know donald trump legitimately won the 2020 election in michigan? >> yes. >> reporter: now dixon is dodging that question. >> there were some things that happened in michigan that didn't happen in other states which are very concerning. >> reporter: these wins are just the latest in the steady advance by those sowing distrust in elections being put on the november ballot. in nevada, jim marchant is republican nominee for secretary of state, running to oversee his state's elections. he told us this earlier this year. >> i believe it was stolen, yeah. i believe that there were enough irregularities that we need to do an audit. >> reporter: and then there's michigan's christina karama, another s