I don't think that's how it will go down. He's stupid and will just run the same play again, but with more stooges this time.
There will be elections, and Democrats will absolutely be able to run. But if Trump (he's already joked about running again) or his pick do not win, then Vance will not certify the election. Eventually that will land at the Supreme Court, and then it's anyone's guess as to whether or not they follow the constitution or just make up bullshit to support their agenda.
You have far more hope than I do. Republicans are dogs chasing cars, they know what they want, they just don't know what happens after. They want a permanent Christo-fascist government and we just handed them all the power to make it happen. People keep saying "there's rules about this, there's procedures, we have safeguards" as if that impeded him at all in his first term. The only hope I have is that they're too stupid and incompetent to pull it off
It's not really meant to. But there will very likely still be elections that have Democrats in them. It's just a question of how competently they make them a sham.
If they assume that and pre-capitulate it may as well be. These are the right motions to be making whether or not any of these are even the right people. Whether or not there will be free and fair elections again. The only way there will be is if we fight.