Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) joined a growing chorus of Republican voices denouncing Donald Trump’s conspiratorial claims that the presidential election would be “rigged.”
“To say that elections are rigged and all these votes are stolen, that’s like saying we never landed on the moon, frankly. That’s how silly it is,” Kasich told CBS This Morning on Wednesday.
“I don’t think that’s good for our country, for our democracy, and I don’t believe we have any massive fraud. One of my great friends here is the head of the board of elections. We don’t have that, that’s just a silly argument,” he continued. “The problem is, it does create doubt in peoples’ minds. And I worry about 25 percent of Americans who may say when the election’s over, it was stolen. That is a big fat joke.”
Kasich joins a growing list of Republican politicians to stand up against Trump’s claims that the election is rigged.
At a debate Monday night against opponent Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL) said “We have 67 counties in this state, each of which conduct their own elections. I promise you there is not a 67-county conspiracy to rig this election.”
On Saturday, a spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-OH) said “Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.” The statement earned Twitter mockery from Trump.
While many Trump surrogates claim the Republican nominee is referring to slanted media coverage, Trump himself has claimed on numerous occasions—including at nearly every one of his rallies—that voter fraud and compromised polling places will artificially tilt the election in Democrats’ favor, assertions for which there is no evidence.
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