PHILADELPHIA — Donald Trump and most of his Republican congressional allies from Georgia still embrace allegations of a stolen election in 2020 even as GOP leaders warn the false narrative could cost them at the ballot box this year.

At least five of Georgia’s nine Republicans in the U.S. House have promoted falsehoods about widespread election fraud, according to a review of their statements by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Republican candidates running against incumbent Democrats in Congress this year also expressed doubts about the 2020 outcome.

As Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris prepare to debate Tuesday, the former president renewed his false claims, saying on social media this weekend that he was a victim of “Cheating and Skullduggery” by Democrats in the 2020 election. And he warned he would imprison anyone who engages in “unscrupulous behavior” in this election if he’s reelected.

Trump also admitted recently that he lost the 2020 election “by a whisker.”

Allegations of fraud have never been proved in the nearly four years since then, but the idea that the election was somehow stolen has become a pillar of mainstream Republican belief, with an AJC poll in June showing 76% of GOP voters saying they thought there was widespread fraud.

Investigations and recounts repeatedly upheld Joe Biden’s win but also revealed human errors — such as double-scanned ballots in a Fulton County recount — that didn’t change the result. The mistakes fueled more election skepticism from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Trump loyalists who have echoed his claims.

Greene has said for years that there was “mass voter fraud” and that Trump was the real winner, and in March she said Trump was merely trying to find absentee ballots that were lost in the mail when he asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse the results. Trump is facing felony charges in Georgia and Washington related to his call to Raffensperger.

“I would object again today, because I know for a fact there was so much wrong in that election and I believe it was stolen. Do I know how? No, I don’t know how,” Greene said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2022.

Other Republican congressmen in Georgia’s delegation, such as U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, are more interested in this year’s election than what happened in the past. McCormick has mostly avoided discussing the 2020 election, though he refused to concede his own congressional race in 2018 when he lost by more than 10,000 votes.

“2020 was four years ago, and I am focused on the future — not the past,” McCormick said. “It is clear that D.C. Democrats have no interest in safe and secure elections and will do whatever it takes to grab, maintain and assert power.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins has also loudly proclaimed his lack of confidence in Georgia’s election. He calls the election “legitimately rigged” through changes to state election rules approved by Raffensperger.

More recently, he’s encouraged Republicans to cast their ballots even if they lacked faith in the election system. His message to skeptical Georgia Republicans: “Go vote early. At least you get your vote in. Or, if you have to, vote by absentee, but get your vote in this time around.”

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk is also standing by comments he made when he objected to counting Electoral College votes for Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I have a reasonable and significant doubt that the electors selected to represent Georgia in the Electoral College actually reflect the true will of the people of Georgia,” Loudermilk said at the time.

Other congressmen have acknowledged Biden’s win, including U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and U.S. Rep Austin Scott.

“As I’ve stated clearly and consistently since his inauguration, President Biden is the duly elected president of the United States,” said Carter, who signed onto a brief supporting the Texas lawsuit that attempted to throw out Georgia’s results in 2020. “That does not mean the 2020 presidential election was free from fraud.”

Scott didn’t join his Republican colleagues in objecting to counting states’ votes on Jan. 6, 2021, and he supported changes to Georgia’s voting laws passed in 2021 that limited drop boxes, required more voter ID and banned handing out food and drinks to voters waiting in line.

“I upheld my oath to the Constitution and voted to certify the results of the 2020 election, which included the certified results from our secretary of state,” Scott said. “Georgia passed the Election Integrity Act to restore faith in our state’s election process.”

U.S. Reps. Rick Allen and Andrew Clyde — both of whom voted to sustain objections to the electoral vote count for president — didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Some Republican candidates for Congress are also showing their loyalty to Trump and his claim that he was the real winner.

Brian Jack, a former Trump aide who is running for Congress, raised his hand at a debate when asked whether Trump was the “rightful” winner of the 2020 election.

Other congressional hopefuls acknowledge that Biden won.

“Although my opinion has ranged all over the spectrum on this matter, ultimately I do not think President Trump won Georgia in 2020,” Jeff Criswell, a long-shot Republican candidate for Congress running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, told the AJC.

Wayne Johnson, a Republican candidate seeking to oust Democratic U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, refused to say who he believes won.

“This matter has been decided by way of law and process and from my standpoint warrants no further speculation or debate,” Johnson said. “We must now all focus on the 2024 election, as this is what we all can affect.”

Many GOP leaders who could run for higher office, including former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, say they remain uncertain of the results.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know. I think what we have to say, however, is that election is in the past and it’s the Democrats that want to keep it alive,” Loeffler said.

Congressional record

At least five of Georgia’s nine Republican members of Congress have promoted allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 election: U.S. Reps. Rick Allen, Andrew Clyde, Mike Collins, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Barry Loudermilk.

Four of them voted to sustain an objection to counting Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021, naming Joe Biden president, with the exception of Collins, who wasn’t in office at the time.

Allen and Loudermilk also signed on to a Texas lawsuit that attempted to throw out Georgia’s results.

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