Ashley Hinson: Republican for Senate

Ashley Hinson is what soft denial looks like. On the eve of January 6, she signed a letter decrying election abuses that never existed at any meaningful scale, then she voted to certify while endorsing other ways for Trump to stay in office. In the years since, she has recycled that fraud narrative into votes for bills that would make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to vote.

Worst moments:

• Signed a letter on January 5, 2021 endorsing election conspiracy theories and proposing alternative methods for Trump to remain in power.
• Repeatedly voted against congressional investigations into January 6.
• Major Congressional supporter of the SAVE Act, who would contribute to its passage in the Senate.

History of election denial

Hinson’s record epitomizes the rhetoric of a soft denialist. On January 5, 2021, she joined a letter from a faction of Congressional Republicans that, while disavowing the attempts to overturn the 2020 election through non-certification, repeated conspiracy theories and endorsed alternative methods to install Trump as President. The letter claimed that a “path to victory for President Trump” existed, involving “state legislatures certifying Trump electors” in Republican-controlled states that Biden won. The letter explicitly argued that five swing states had “legislatures that are controlled by Republicans, and they all have the power to send a new slate of electoral votes to Congress.”

Hinson and her handful of co-signatories disclaimed any responsibility for the attempts to invalidate swing state results on January 6 but maintained support for the core ideological tenets of the election denial movement, arguing that there had been “significant abuses in our election system” and making claims that laid the groundwork for the “Independent State Legislature” theory. Hinson went on to vote twice against establishing a Congressional committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection.

Influence over election administration

Hinson is also on the record supporting federal voting restrictions. As a Representative, she has been a consistent supporter of Republican attempts to restrict ballot access, a pattern she would almost certainly continue if elected to the Senate. Hinson cosponsored and has repeatedly voted for the SAVE Act, a restrictive voting bill that could disenfranchise millions of eligible American voters, disproportionately affecting women. As a Senator, Hinson would also be a vote in support of any conspiracist nominees to senior roles at the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, giving her the chance to let election-denying foxes directly into the henhouse.