Election-denying candidates are bad news, no matter where they’re running

In which Law Dork heads over to The New York Times for a Monday morning essay about the negative consequences even when election-denying candidates lose.

This morning, The New York Times Opinion section published my essay about election-denying secretary of state candidates running for office across the country. 

Unlike a lot of the discussion surrounding those candidacies, however, I write about — and talk with several key people about — the effects and dangers of those candidates even where they are likely to lose. 

A key excerpt:

And there are people like Dominic Rapini, Connecticut’s Republican secretary of state nominee, who are running in blue states and unlikely to win. Their campaigns, though, will have critical fallout effects. By virtue of their statewide platforms, even losing candidates can further damage the discourse — in their states and nationally — and increase the risks to our democracy. Election deniers in blue states can uniquely exacerbate Mr. Trump’s undermining of faith in our elections, and they, like their winning counterparts in red states, can set the stage for local election-denying candidates to win now or in the future.

Among those I talked with for the essay are Connecticut State Rep. Stephanie Thomas, the Democrat running against Rapini.

It’s an important topic, and I’m glad the Times gave me the chance to write about it. 

Please, check it out.