WASHINGTON – Arizona Republicans just introduced an extreme bill to overturn the presidential selection process in Arizona. The proposal would empower the state legislature – currently controlled by Republicans – to override the popular vote in a presidential election and appoint presidential electors of their choice. The bill was introduced by the notoriously anti-democratic GOP Sen. Anthony Kern, who proudly attended the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol and served as a fake elector for Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
State legislatures are the most important level of the ballot in shaping democratic institutions. Republicans across the country have launched assaults on our democracy – from threatening to overturn elections to attacking bipartisan election officials and advancing voter suppression laws. The DLCC has both the Arizona Senate and House on our target map in 2024 – we have a critical opportunity to break the GOP’s control of both chambers and deliver Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs the Democratic trifecta needed to protect our democracy.
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee National Press Secretary Sam Paisley issued the following statement:
“This is a full sound-the-alarm moment for American democracy. Arizona Republicans are attacking the most essential tenet of our elections: that the people decide their representatives. Since 2020, we’ve seen hundreds of Republican legislators across the country willing to support efforts to challenge and overturn election results, but this latest attempt to remove the will of the people from the presidential selection process is one of the gravest threats to democracy we’ve seen yet. The Arizona Republican caucus continues to be a hotbed of MAGA extremism, and the only way to put an end to this MAGA extremism is for Democrats to break the GOP’s control of both chambers this year. Democracy is on the line in state legislatures in Arizona and across the country.”
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to winning America’s state legislatures and building state infrastructure. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.
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