Trump endorses Minnesota elections chief candidate who questioned 2020 results

Former President Trump on Tuesday endorsed a Republican candidate for Minnesota secretary of state who has repeatedly cast doubt on the 2020 election results.

The big picture: Kim Crockett is running in a general election where more than 200 "election deniers" will appear ballots across the U.S.

• The conservative think tank official has called the election "illegitimate" and repeatedly claimed that it was "rigged" against Trump.
• When she was asked at a recent news conference whether she trusts 2020 results in Minnesota — where President Biden won — she said, "I don’t think we’ll ever know precisely what happened.”

What she's saying: "I was surprised to learn this morning that President Trump endorsed me. I appreciate this unexpected vote of confidence," Crockett said in a statement Tuesday.

• "The most important endorsement will be Minnesota voters who choose me to be their new Secretary of State. ... My overriding goal will be to boost confidence in elections from school boards to the governor's office."

State of play: Recent polls show Crockett and incumbent Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, in a relatively close race. Groups aligned with Democrats are spending millions on TV ads attacking the GOP nominee.

What he's saying: In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Crockett a “strong and wonderful woman” running in “a state where election fraud is rampant, but where nothing is getting done about it, or more importantly, to FIX it.”

• “Kim will get to the bottom of that, and so much more," the post reads.

Reality check: There is no evidence of "rampant fraud" in recent Minnesota elections.

• President Biden carried the state by 7 points in an election that also delivered wins to Republicans running in competitive races for Congress and the state Legislature.

What to watch: The outcome of midterm races featuring Trump-endorsed candidates will be a test of the former president's political power heading into 2024, Axios' Alayna Treene and Andrew Solender write.