In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, a relatively small number of mostly Republican officials protected the United States from a major political crisis.

In Michigan, for example, State Election Board member Aaron Van Langevelde cast the pivotal vote to certify the results of the election, despite pressure to flout state law and delay certification.¹ In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused to tamper with the results of the election, despite a lengthy call from President Donald Trump and his advisers in which Raffensperger was asked to “find 11,780 votes.”² All told, at least 31 Republican elected officials from battleground states spoke to then-President Trump soon after the election—and though they tried to placate him, most were unwilling to go along with his schemes to change the results of the election.³

The Jim Crow Filibuster Must Go

America may not be so lucky next time around.

Van Langevelde was not re-nominated for his board position, and Raffensperger was censured by the Georgia Republican Party⁴ and removed from his position as chair of Georgia’s State Election Board. Across the country, many Trump-aligned officeholders increasingly support and promote the idea that the presidential election was stolen; in fact, it has become “a new kind of litmus test.”⁵ It has been reported that more than 230 candidates running for Congress have embraced President Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen.⁶ Perhaps even worse, many of the...

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