in a way that is much more palatable. desantis comes off as much more combative which is an asset if you are challenging trump. mave, election deniers had a time. they wondered if that trend would spread abroad. election deniers, do they resonate in this election? no. we saw a clear rejection of election denialism. we were watching so closely a lot of the secretary of state races. the folks that will oversee the election counting in the next in 2024 but we still obviously don t know the results in nevada and arizona and it s so important because arizona is really just ground zero for that
the, in the election system. right? the money is umping. the money is flowing here. looking at $16 of.7 billion projected here for this midterm. way more than 2018 and 2014. look at spending by state. excuse me, guys. pennsylvania, georgia, arizona, ohio, wisconsin. these are huge numbers we re seeing, and who many doing all the spending? look at the senate leader sh s fund. $205.4 million. gop leadership. congress many, $188. senate majority, and how majority, $96.3 million. ip and down the ballot, guys, huge numbers. records for how much money spent on ballot initiatives for state races, for some secretary of state races. really huge numbers here and also when you look at the billionaires. billionaires are spending a lot of money here. billionaire a week to go spent hundreds of millions of dollars. names you know.
concerns they were facing this election cycle. first, the existential threat the election deniers are posing to our country. according to the washington post, to 91 election deniers are on the ballot in secretary of state races, governor races, and other offices that are critical to administering and the functioning of our democracy. the other concern is rhetorical extremism, and the fading line between that and real political violence. our new poll shows the large majority of voters believe that social media, cable news, and donald trump or to a large extent responsible for the surge in extremist rhetoric, and attacks on public official. joining us now is a professor of history at new york university, msnbc opinion
2024 election, and possibly democracy itself? is that just a story that we journalists tell ourselves? it s for real. it s for real this time. and for the exactly the reason that you say. 2022 is a dress rehearsal for 2025. if the american people if they don t get it right this time, then 2024 is going to be exponentially worse. we have election deniers up and it down the ballot for all sorts of offices. there could be an election denier as governor of arizona, or maybe even governor of new york. and then you go on down from there. that s why i say the 2022 is over 2024. and you look at the secretary of state races. you never cared about anything! i don t think we ever knew i never knew the name of one across this country, and now we talk about them, and to them. and to your point, it reminds us that the election is different. if you are coming down to earth
corruption reigns because there s no accountability. where does that figure into the closing argument and this is a quasi political/quasi civic question, james. where does it fit into how you re going to be watching the results tomorrow when you have more candidates than ever publicly running on the idea they may not accept the results? of course we re going to be looking at things we don t normally look at in the past secretary of state races, state supreme court races. it s very frightening. there s only one hope for democracy in the united states, and i m serious, and that is the democratic party. i admit i m a member of that party. i admit it s kind of constipated, cumbersome, but that s it. it s frighten to think. i m 78 years old. i have been a member since i can remember. and there s only one thing between us and to talltarianism. but you know what? it s true. if you want to save democracy,