In the heated leadup to the midterm elections, concerns of widespread political violence spread across the United States. But in most places, those threats never came to fruition.
“Overall, it was a relatively smooth process, and no news is good news,” national security expert Juliette Kayyem said in an appearance on Boston Public Radio on Wednesday.
Kayyem said secretaries of state and were effective in managing disruptions, such as delays typical of elections, and that much of the fear of violence this year related to hysteria amplified on social media. She said political violence is present in the United States, but to her, this is a manageable type of violence because it is largely linked to individuals affiliated with extremist groups.
"I have also been documenting the complicated story of radicalization that has been going on in this county for four or five years. It wasn't solely in one trajectory," she said, noting that many factors have contributed to some Americans adopting extremist views.
Another reason for the lack of violence this election stems from the losses of candidates who aligned themselves with former President Donald Trump and denied the results of the 2020 presidential race. In Massachusetts, Geoff Diehl lost the governor’s race to Attorney General Maura Healey.
“These horrible election-deniers — some of them did win — but the top election-deniers, particularly in New Hampshire, did not win. They did not capture any swing state secretaries of state ... so that's a win,” Kayyem said.
Apart from the losses suffered by election-denying candidates, another large departure from the 2020 election was the number of candidates who conceded their races, including Trump-endorsed candidates like Dr. Mehmet Oz. Kayyem said that's a sign the former president's power could be receding.
“This is where the losses sustained by the Trump vision of the GOP are now being perceived by people who should have known better like Geoffrey Diehl,” Kayyem said. “Geoff Diehl trying to become Charlie Baker in his post-election is going to be a sign that he even knows that Trump is over.”
