Members of the United States Republican Party have reacted differently to Republican president Donald Trump's false claims about the 2020 United States presidential election, with many publicly supporting them, many remaining silent, and a few publicly denouncing them.[1] Trump falsely claimed to have won the election,[2][3][4] and made many false and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.[5] By December 11, 2020, 126 out of 196 Republican members of the House backed a lawsuit filed in the United States Supreme Court supported by nineteen Republican state attorneys general seeking to subvert the election and overturn the election results.[6] The Trump campaign hired the Berkeley Research Group to investigate whether there had been voter fraud. The researchers found nothing, and the consultancy reported this to Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows on a conference call in the final days of the year, before the attack on the Capitol.[7]
Multiple polls for months after the election found that majorities of Republicans believed the election was fraudulent and stolen and that Trump was the "true" president.[8] By February 2021, drawing on the false allegations of voting fraud and a stolen election, Republican state legislatures had begun to implement new laws and rules to restrict voting access in ways that would favor Republican candidates.[9][10][11] In Arizona, the Republican-controlled government proceeded with legislation to allow the state attorney general, then a Republican, to intervene in the voting certification process managed by the secretary of state, currently a Democrat.[12] Republican lawmakers and candidates in several states sought to seize control of the administrative management of elections.[13]
By December 30, 2020, Republican members of the House and Senate indicated their intent to object to the congressional certification of Electoral College results, to force both chambers to debate and vote on whether to accept the results.[14][15]Mike Pence, who as vice president would preside over the proceedings, signaled his endorsement of the effort, stating on January 4, "I promise you, come this Wednesday, we will have our day in Congress." Trump and some supporters promoted a false "Pence card" theory that the vice president has the authority to reject certified results.[16][17][18] However, Pence later reversed his endorsement of the effort, saying in a letter he would not reject certified results.[19] In the early hours of January 7, 2021, Pence (while performing his duties as President of the Senate, during the counting of electoral votes) conceded that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had won.[20] On the evening of January 7, 2021, Trump tweeted a video in which he agreed to a peaceful transition on January 20.[21]
The insistence by Trump and his supporters through 2023 that the election had been stolen from him by fraud came to be characterized as an implementation of "the big lie", leading to an election denial movement. It was used by Republicans to justify efforts to impose new voting restrictions and to take control of the administrative management of elections at the state and local level.[22]