爱达荷州司法部长劳伦斯·沃斯登(Lawrence Wasden)是一名共和党人，他多次赢得连任，在这个州，共和党在政治上占据主导地位，用他的话说，他“有20年公平公正地召集球和罢工的记录。”
这可能不足以让他在共和党初选中胜出并保住自己的席位。瓦斯登是七位选择不参加2020年总统竞选的共和党总检察长之一选举其他州的结果。去年秋天，他在给总统的一封信中拒绝加入其他共和党总检察长乔·拜登抱怨疫苗授权，尽管他最终加入了对其中几个的诉讼。
他较为温和的立场让他与越来越多的共和党人意见不一，这些人对新冠肺炎的限制感到恼火，并重复了广泛的欺诈让前总统付出了代价的错误说法唐纳德·特朗普连任。在共和党初选中，瓦斯登面临着两个对他有利的挑战，他正在寻求第六个任期，担任该州最高政府律师。
其中一位挑战者亚瑟·麦考伯说，司法部长的一个关键职能是监督联邦权力——他说沃斯登做得还不够。
“这基本上是对司法部长职位的误解，”房地产律师麦康伯说。
来自他自己政党内部对瓦斯登的挑战象征着共和党内更广泛的极右转变。类似的动态正渗透到全国各地的司法部长竞选中，因为一个通常被称为“人民律师”的办公室——在大多数州负责刑事诉讼和消费者保护——越来越多地被意识形态斗争所吞噬。
今年30个州的总检察长席位有所增加。一些最有可能吸引巨额支出的州将出现在密歇根州、内华达州和威斯康星州等政治战场，预计这些州将在2024年总统竞选中再次发挥巨大作用。
共和党目前拥有27个司法部长席位。研究办公室的马凯特大学政治学家保罗·诺莱特说，共和党人可能会在中期选举中把这个数字提高到30或更多选举这一年，共和党人已经准备好在选票上上下下的竞选中取得好成绩。
他们已经提前取得了胜利。去年秋天，选民在弗吉尼亚州罢免了现任民主党司法部长，该州近年来越来越倾向于民主党。这是该州共和党浪潮的一部分，该党也声称拥有州长办公室和立法机构的一个席位。
诺莱特说，党派关系对办公室来说比过去更重要:“办公室在这一点上真的变得像其他全州的办公室一样——高度两极分化。”
在2020年大选之前，共和党总检察长协会的一个部门为官员们举行了“战争游戏”，以计划在特朗普落选的情况下做出反应。这个名为“法治国防基金”的组织后来推动了2021年1月6日的集会，在此之前，特朗普的支持者冲击了美国国会大厦，试图阻挠选民认证。
对民主党人来说，越来越多的人担心，共和党在今年选举中的浪潮可能会在关键的总统战场州将民主党州长、国务卿和总检察长赶下台。曾在蒙大拿州担任司法部长和州长的民主党人史蒂夫·布洛克警告说，一个无赖的司法部长可能会破坏选举结果。
“如果他们实际上不相信法治，他们怎么能搞砸呢?无论是积极采取行动，还是防御性地未能捍卫国家利益，”他说。
正如2020年所显示的那样，虽然国务卿监督大多数州的选举，但总检察长可以在选举后发挥关键作用。
那次选举一个月后，德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿要求美国最高法院否决支持拜登而不是特朗普的四个州的选举结果。法院拒绝了这项努力，但只是在其他18名共和党司法部长提交文件支持之后。
爱达荷州的瓦斯登不在其中。
他在接受采访时表示:“在审视得克萨斯州的案件时，很明显，那场诉讼违反了宪法。"如果得克萨斯州可以起诉宾夕法尼亚州，那么加州就可以起诉爱达荷州."
到目前为止，麦康伯在竞选期间对沃斯登的行为稍有微词，他表示自己会加入德克萨斯州的诉讼，并增加了一份法庭之友简报，以提出更多的法律观点。美国最高法院最终认定，这些州没有资格挑战其他州的选举结果。
民主党总检察长在密歇根州、宾夕法尼亚州和威斯康星州为各自州2020年的选举结果辩护，共和党总检察长在佐治亚州也是如此。
“公众必须知道他们所在的州AG站在哪一边，”内华达州司法部长艾伦·福特(Aaron Ford)在1月份的视频新闻发布会上说，他是民主党总检察长协会的联合主席。
西加尔·查塔是内华达州唯一一位竞选该职位的共和党人，他指责福特没有更快、更积极地调查选举舞弊。他的办公室在10月份对一名选民提出指控，称他代表已故妻子投票。
“我们真的相信这是一起孤立的事件吗?”查塔问道。“我没有。”
美联社调查了2020年内华达州总统选举和特朗普及其盟友对他的损失提出异议的其他五个政治战场州的潜在选民欺诈案件。美联社发现，内华达州的选举官员已经确定了93到98个潜在的案例——不到拜登在该州获胜的0.3%。
并非每个司法部长的竞选都有不同的领域，但共和党初选中更多的当权派保守派和更右翼的保守派之间的对决是几个州的共同主题，包括堪萨斯州、密歇根州和明尼苏达州。
民主党总检察长协会发言人杰夫·布尔根(Geoff Burgan)表示:“在这么多这样的竞选中，这是一场看谁能与唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)、他的政治品牌和选举被盗的弥天大谎最接近的比赛。
共和党总检察长协会发言人约翰尼·科雷梅诺斯拒绝直接回答语音邮件和电子邮件留下的问题，即共和党总检察长是否可能寻求破坏合法的选举结果。在一份声明中，他说“2022年将是共和党竞选司法部长的伟大一年。”
在密歇根州，提名人是在州党代会上而不是初选中选出的，前州众议院议长汤姆·伦纳德希望与民主党现任议员达纳·内塞尔再次竞选。
但首先，伦纳德吹嘘自己被任命为该州最保守的立法者，他必须在党内大会上击败两名共和党对手。其中之一是律师马修·德佩尔诺(Matthew DePerno)，他起诉密歇根州安特里姆县，声称那里的投票机记录了特朗普在2020年选举中支持拜登的选票。索赔被驳回。
虽然伦纳德专注于减少暴力犯罪等问题，但德佩尔诺认为选举欺诈是一个驱动力问题——尽管共和党人自己没有发现该州系统性欺诈的证据。他得到了特朗普的支持。
“这就说明了一切，”密歇根奥克兰大学的政治学家大卫·杜里奥说。“他当然已经搭上了唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的顺风车，寄希望于特朗普品牌将在本次选举中拥有实力。”
DePerno没有回复采访请求。
State AG races become litmus test for GOP election claims
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2018, file photo, Nevada's incoming Attorney General Aaron Ford...
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, a Republican, has won re-election multiple times in a state where the GOP dominates politically and, in his telling, has “a 20-year track record of calling balls and strikes fairly and squarely.”
That may not be enough for him to survive a GOP primary challenge and keep his seat. Wasden was one of seven Republican attorneys general to opt against joining an ill-fated challenge of the 2020 presidentialelectionresults in other states. And last fall, he declined to join other GOP attorneys general in a letter to PresidentJoe Bidencomplaining about vaccine mandates, although he ended up joining lawsuits against several of them.
His more moderate positions have put him at odds with a growing share of Republicans who chafe at COVID-19 restrictions and repeat the false claim that widespread fraud cost former PresidentDonald Trumpre-election. Wasden is facing two challengers who are to his right in the Republican primary as he seeks a sixth term as the state's top government lawyer.
One of the challengers, Arthur McComber, said a key function of the attorney general's role is to act as a watchdog against federal power — something he said Wasden hasn’t done enough.
“It’s basically a misunderstanding of the attorney general position,” said McComber, a real estate lawyer.
The challenge to Wasden from within his own party is emblematic of the broader far-right shift within the GOP. Similar dynamics are permeating races for attorney general across the country as an office often referred to as “the people's lawyer” — responsible in most states for criminal prosecutions and consumer protections — has become increasingly consumed by ideological battles.
Seats for attorneys general are up in 30 states this year. Some of the most likely to attract heavy spending will be in political battlegrounds such as Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, states that again are expected to play outsized roles in the 2024 presidential contest.
Republicans currently hold 27 attorneys general seats. Paul Nolette, a Marquette University political scientist who studies the office, said Republicans could bump that number to 30 or more in a midtermelectionyear when Republicans are primed to do well in races up and down the ballot.
They've already notched an early victory. Last fall, voters ousted the incumbent Democratic attorney general in Virginia, a state that had been leaning increasingly Democratic in recent years. It was part of a GOP wave in the state that also saw the party claim the governor's office and one house of the legislature.
Nolette said party affiliation matters for the office more than it used to: “The office has really become like other statewide offices at this point — highly polarized.”
Ahead of the 2020 election, an arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association held “war games” for officials to plan a reaction in case of a Trump loss. That group, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, later promoted the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to thwart the certification of electors.
For Democrats, there is increasing concern that a Republican wave in this year's elections could sweep Democratic governors, secretaries of state and attorneys general out of power in crucial presidential battleground states. Steve Bullock, a Democrat who has served as attorney general and governor in Montana, warned that a rogue attorney general could undermine election results.
“How can they mess with it if they don’t actually believe in the rule of law? Both in affirmatively bringing action and defensively failing to defend the states’ interest,” he said.
While secretaries of state oversee elections in most states, attorneys general can play pivotal roles in the aftermath, as demonstrated in 2020.
A month after that election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the results in four states that supported Biden over Trump. The court rejected the effort, but only after 18 other Republican attorneys general filed papers in support.
Idaho's Wasden was not one of them.
“In taking a look at the Texas case, it was evident that that lawsuit was contrary to the Constitution," he said in an interview. “If Texas can sue Pennsylvania, then California can sue Idaho."
McComber, who has slightly outraised Wasden during the campaign so far, said he would have joined the Texas lawsuit and added an amicus brief to raise additional legal points. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately found that the states lacked standing to challenge election results in other states.
Democratic attorneys general defended their states' 2020 election results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as did the Republican attorney general in Georgia.
“The public must know which side their state AG is on,” Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, said during a video news conference in January.
Sigal Chattah, the only Republican running for the job in Nevada, faults Ford, among other things, for not investigating election fraud sooner and more vigorously. His office filed charges in October against one voter for allegedly casting a ballot on behalf of his deceased wife.
“Do we really believe this was an isolated incident?” Chattah asked. “I don’t.”
The Associated Press investigated potential cases of voter fraud from the 2020 presidential election in Nevada and the five other political battleground states where Trump and his allies disputed his loss. The AP found that election officials across Nevada had identified between 93 and 98 potential cases — representing less than 0.3% of Biden’s margin of victory in the state.
The fields are not set in every attorney general race, but GOP primary showdowns between more establishment-style conservatives and those further to the right is a common theme in several states, including Kansas, Michigan and Minnesota.
“In so many of these races, it is a race to see who can align themselves closest with Donald Trump, his brand of politics and the big lie” that the election was stolen, said Geoff Burgan, a spokesman for the Democratic Attorneys General Association.
Johnny Koremenos, a spokesman for the Republican Attorneys General Association, declined to directly answer questions left by voicemail and email about whether Republican attorneys general might seek to undermine lawful election results. In a statement, he said “2022 will be a great year for Republicans running for attorney general.”
In Michigan, where nominees are chosen at state party conventions rather than primaries, former state House Speaker Tom Leonard is hoping for a rematch against Democratic incumbent Dana Nessel.
But first, Leonard, who touts having been named the state’s most conservative lawmaker, has to defeat two GOP opponents in a party convention. One of them is Matthew DePerno, a lawyer who sued Michigan's Antrim County claiming voting machines there recorded votes for Trump as being for Biden in the 2020 election. The claim was dismissed.
While Leonard is focusing on issues such as reducing violent crime, DePerno sees election fraud as a driving issue — despite Republicans themselves finding no evidence of systemic fraud in the state. He has Trump's support.
“That says it all,” said David Dulio, a political scientist at Oakland University in Michigan. “He has certainly hitched his wagon to Donald Trump, counting on the fact that the Trump brand will have strength in this election.”
DePerno did not respond to interview requests.
