The Atlantic did not publish headline saying Harris may have to 'steal' election

The claim

A fabricated headline mimicking the U.S.-based outlet The Atlantic has surfaced on social media, saying that Vice President Kamala Harris might have to "steal an election" to "save democracy."

The undated screenshot carries The Atlantic masthead with a supposed headline that reads, "To save democracy, Harris may need to steal an election." 

The sub-headline reads, "Constitutional scholars are already worrying about another January 6 crisis, and they warn that the next election might be harder to save."

One iteration gathered more than 5,000 likes on X, formerly Twitter. 

However, the headline was fabricated.

In fact

The headline is not visible when searching through The Atlantic website or social media channels. 

Shortly after the screenshot began circulating, The Atlantic published a press release saying that the "headline is fabricated. No such article has ever been published by The Atlantic."

While the image circulating on social media does not display an authentic publication, the same subheadline was featured in an October 2021 article titled "Kamala Harris Might Have to Stop the Steal."

The article's title about Harris "stopping the steal" riffs on the phrase some Trump supporters invoked as they stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, while attempting to stop Joe Biden's certification as president. 

Archives of the article saved in 2021 and 2022 do not show a headline suggesting that Harris might have to "steal" the election to "save democracy."

The real article discussed what Harris's role as vice president would be in certifying the 2024 election results, as Mike Pence did in 2020, should Republican Donald Trump or his base attempt to subvert the outcome.

The verdict

The headline is not real, and The Atlantic published a press release confirming that they had never published any such article. Therefore, we have marked this claim as fake.

Follow Logically Facts' coverage and fact-checking of the U.S. Election 2024 here.