The Election Deniers’ Long Game
This article examines how right-wing activists are gaining control over local election administration in the United States. It warns that these local efforts pose a more significant threat to election integrity than federal-level rhetoric.
Why it matters
It identifies a shift in political strategy toward local governance that could impact the administration of future U.S. elections.
Right-wing activists have slowly taken control of a significant part of America’s local election apparatus. The country isn’t prepared for what they might do.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. September 10, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save In the anxious days following President Trump’s 2020 election loss—before his supporters stormed the Capitol, before his vengeful return to the White House, before the mass pardons for cop beaters—some Republican figures sought to cast his attempt to overturn the results as nothing more than a coping mechanism.
Trump was merely blowing off steam, people close to the president told me and other reporters. “What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?” one asked, suggesting that in the end, his antics would amount to no more than a footnote in the annals of presidential history.
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