Those already running are leaning into the far-right fervor of the moment, whether they’re echoing Trump’s provocative rhetoric against Whitmer or continuing to publicly sow doubt in President Joe Biden’s victory. On the latter, they see little downside: A new Morning Consult/Politico poll shows that 51 percent of Republican voters believe that audits like the one in Arizona will change the outcome. “At this point, it’s irrelevant what I personally believe,” Austin Chenge, one of at least six declared but largely unknown GOP candidates for governor, told NBC News when asked if he believes the election was stolen from Trump. “The vast majority believe there are questions that need to be answered.” As in other states where pro-Trump activists are taking hold of the party’s levers of power, here it’s become harder to distinguish fringe players from stewards of the establishment.