The broader MAGA movement, too, carried plenty of victories in the 2022 midterms. Trump-aligned Secretary of State candidates won elections in Alabama, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming, where they will now run election infrastructure in 2024. (The Alabama candidate did not make it on our list of far-right candidates). The “red wave” did materialize in Florida and New York, turning the former, once a swing state, solidly red. Staunch anti-trans incumbent governors, like Greg Abbott in Texas and Ron DeSantis in Florida, among others, won re-election, leading many to anticipate a new wave of state-level anti-trans legislation in 2023.
The MAGA base, as well, shows no sign of backing down. On Election Day, MAGA supporters engaged in harassment of voters at polling places in Florida, Texas, and Michigan. In the days since, MAGA mobs in Arizona, spurred on by far-right elected officials like Wendy Rogers and pundits like Steve Bannon, have held protests and conducted Christian nationalist “Jericho Marches” outside of ballot tabulation centers. Scholars have noted that the leaders and base of the Christian nationalist movement, which enthusiastically backed candidates like Mastriano, will remain a strong force on the U.S. Right, and may be further emboldened by their newly-reinforced identity as aggrieved underdogs.
With the much-anticipated red wave failing to materialize nationally, the Right is eager to cast blame. Capturing the prevailing despair, Senator Josh Hawley, another far-right avatar, lamented in a tweet that “The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new.” While many castigate weak GOP candidates or supposed Democratic “ballot harvesting” and fundraising advantages, there are signs that a deeper ideological “civil war” is brewing on the Right.
