WASHINGTON — A year ago today, at least 21 Republican lawmakers attended the insurrection and more than 600 helped lay the groundwork for the attack on our country by attempting to overturn the presidential election results or spreading the false election claims about the results of the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to certification — meaning one-sixth of GOP state lawmakers were complicit in the 1/6 attack on our country. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee was the first and only entity committed to identifying, tracking, and condemning these elected officials to ensure that every voter understands the GOP’s role in the insurrection.
The committee relaunched its GOP of Hall of Shame: Sedition Edition tracking these lawmakers. The site now includes state legislative candidates who attended the insurrection and are running for office in 2022, insurrectionist Republican legislators who are running for higher office, and more than 100 GOP statehouse officials who have signed onto an effort calling for a 50-state sham election review of the 2020 election and potential decertification of the presidential election — keeping the spirit of the insurrection alive. More than 700 Republican elected officials have fanned the flames of the attempt to overthrow our democracy and hand Trump another four years in the White House and the DLCC will hold them accountable. We encourage anyone who knows of candidates and officials who should be included to email us at [email protected].
Today, DLCC President Jessica Post and lawmakers from across the country called for accountability and condemned Republican lawmakers for using their power to attack our freedom to vote.
DLCC President Jessica Post said, “The stark reality that we all need to face is that the insurrection didn’t end on January 6th. It’s ongoing. The very same individuals who spread lies about our elections and marched alongside or supported the insurrectionists on January 6th are working to restrict access to voting, give partisan legislatures more control over elections, and continue to undermine the public’s faith in our safe and secure elections by supporting sham election reviews all over the country. We have every reason to believe that if given the opportunity to do so, Republican state legislatures would overturn a fair and free election that their party lost.”
Michigan Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich said, “The problem of more and more insurrectionists and sympathizers running for office is only growing, and it shows all Americans what exactly the Republican Party stands for in 2022. These people aren’t outside the mainstream of the Republican Party — they are the base, they are their leaders, they ARE the Republican Party. We are in a very dangerous place for our democracy and our country when one party refuses to accept reality and spread dangerous conspiracy theories.”
Pennsylvania Senator Vincent Hughes said, “Republicans all over the country were part and parcel to the attempted coup that occurred on January 6th… The Republican Party that we historically knew is now a party of insurrectionists, it’s a party that chooses at every level, from top to bottom, to fly in the face of our freedoms, fly in the face of our democracy, and fly in the face of our fundamental right to vote and everything that comes with that… The insurrection did not just occur on January 6th, 2021. It started beforehand, it had its full face on January 6th 2021, but it is still going on, and we must put an end to it.”
Arizona Senate Minority Leader Rebecca Rios said, “Shockingly, the deadly mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol included elected government officials who swore to uphold and protect the U.S. Constitution, only to wage an attack on our country. Some of those were from my own state of Arizona like then-Representative Anthony Kern — who we had just defeated in the November election and is running for state legislature again with Trump’s endorsement — and state Representative Mark Finchem, who is now running with Trump’s endorsement for Arizona secretary of state to oversee my state’s elections. Make no mistake, the damage done to democracy is felt across the country, especially here in Arizona.”
New York Senator Zellnor Myrie said, “It’s a solemn occasion. We lost lives at the insurrection one year ago and even more were injured and more were traumatized. Our democracy is a participation sport — and if those who are in power do not wield it to protect and expand the franchise we will continue to see this slow-burn insurrection and we will see the erosion of our democracy… This is not a drill. This is not something that we should take for granted. We have to go on the offense — those of us who are in majorities have to stake a claim in the ground and say we will not cede an inch to opponents of democracy.”
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Chris Turner said, “In the weeks and months following that tragic day, Republicans in statehouses across the country consolidated around making it harder to vote and the fight to defend the right to vote is happening right now in states across the country…The insurrection didn’t end when the barricades came down in Washington. That same spirit runs through every vote suppression bill that is being passed in Texas and other states. Texas Republicans embraced the extremists and undemocratic base of the Republican Party and built a model of how to undermine Americans’ power to vote. That same model is being followed in Republican-led chambers throughout the United States.”
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