Morning Distribution for Tuesday, November 29, 2022

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Tuesday, November 29, 2022 Your daily briefing from FiveThirtyEight --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [A yard sign for Arizona governor-elect Katie Hobbs that reads "Stop the chaos. Protect elections."]( [When Democracy Was On The Ballot In 2022, Voters Usually Chose It]( By [Kaleigh Rogers]( Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, made denying the results of the 2020 election central to her campaign this year. And while [she hasn’t yet conceded]( she [lost that race]( to Democrat Katie Hobbs. It was one of the most high-profile examples of a pattern we saw over and over again in the midterms: When election deniers ran for offices that have significant oversight over elections themselves, voters rejected them. There was [a lot]( of [talk about]( democracy [being on the ballot]( this midterm cycle, with [hundreds of candidates who refused to accept the outcome]( of the last nationwide election. And while [many of those candidates (particularly incumbents) won their races]( when it came to those who would have a direct impact on how elections are run and votes counted, the trend was clear. Voters chose democracy. While members of Congress obviously have a role to play — 147 Republicans [voted not to certify]( some of the results of the 2020 election, and a handful of Democrats have [done so in past cycles as well]( — state-level officials hold the most immediate authority over elections. In particular, secretaries of state serve as the chief election official in most states, and overseeing elections is a big part of their job. Voters recognize this and, when state-level candidates were adamant election deniers, they not only lost, they typically did worse than other state-level candidates. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: Where The Georgia Runoff Stands]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.