Washington, DC — As Election Day approaches, it continues to become abundantly clear that the future of American democracy is on the ballot. Michigan AG Dana Nessel voiced her concerns to HuffPost in light of election deniers’ last ditch campaign efforts, including from her very own far-right opponent Matt DePerno.

HuffPost’s Travis Waldron writes, “The ability of election deniers to triumph in GOP primaries has heightened the stakes of typically sleepy down-ballot races, and Democrats in recent weeks have more clearly laid out the implications to voters: The 2024 presidential election and American democracy as a whole, they have argued, hang in the balance of this November’s races.”

“The problem is particularly stark in places like Arizona, one of three swing states ― along with Michigan and Nevada ― where election deniers won GOP nominations for both secretary of state and attorney general.”

“‘These are the offices that make democracy work,’ said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), whose Republican opponent, attorney Matthew DePerno, spread conspiracy theories that electronic voting machines were rigged against Trump; met with Trump officials in Washington, D.C., on the day of the 2021 Capitol insurrection; and launched legal challenges seeking to overturn the results in one Michigan county.”

“‘If we have the wrong people in these offices, it’s not just that democracy won’t function well,’ Nessel said. ‘We won’t have a functioning democracy at all.’”

“As attorney general, DePerno could ‘wreak havoc’ on Michigan’s contests, Nessel said, leaving the state vulnerable to the sort of conspiratorial election challenges that DePerno helped lead in 2020.”

“‘This is a man that has spread more misinformation and disinformation in his career than any attorney that I’ve ever seen. He was hand-selected by Donald Trump in order to do his bidding,’ Nessel said. ‘This is a man who does not even believe in the basic concept that we’re a democracy, that the person who gets the most votes wins an election. And he’s demonstrated that over and over again.’”

And it’s not just Michigan. In states like Arizona, Nevada, and Texas, all Democratic AG candidates are up against far-right 2020 election deniers. In order to defend democracy, Americans must elect Democratic AGs.

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