WASHINGTON — Ahead of twice-impeached Donald Trump’s rally today where he will likely tout conspiracy theories and attack our democratic ideals, the DLCC is shining a light on the at least 38 Arizona Republican state legislative candidates who are trying to undermine our most sacred institutions. Arizona’s MAGA Republicans can be found on the DLCC’s new Threats to Democracy website, a database featuring a list of candidates and lawmakers who have spread dangerous election conspiracies, attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election, or have otherwise threatened our democracy.
“Riddled with election deniers, conspiracy theorists, insurrectionists and Oath Keepers, Arizona’s GOP has been consumed by the MAGA movement,” said DLCC President Jessica Post. “MAGA Republicans have done Trump’s bidding at every turn, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in a sham election review, supporting a Civil War-era abortion ban, and now running for state legislature to threaten the outcomes of future elections. More than half of the GOP’s candidates in the state pose active threats to our democracy. With so much at stake this fall, state Democrats are working to combat rising MAGA extremism and fight what matters for Arizonans and their families.”
Here are the toplines voters need to know from Arizona:
- Two candidates that attended the January 6th insurrection are running in Arizona this year, including former Rep. Anthony Kern and Rep. Mark Finchem, who is running for secretary of state.
- State Republicans challenged the results of the 2020 election by launching a phony election review that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and inspired sham reviews in other Republican-controlled states.
- Almost a year after the election, Sen. Wendy Rogers, an Oath Keeper, published an open letter calling for a 50 state audit of the 2020 election that gained more than 100 signatures from state legislators across the country.
- Arizona is also one of the many states where state legislators were targeted by Trump’s legal team and others, including Ginni Thomas, in an attempt to overturn the election. Anthony Kern was slated to be one of the false electors from Arizona if this plot had moved ahead.
- House Speaker Rusty Bowers did the bare minimum of refusing Trump’s scheme and lost his primary as a result.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee was the first and only entity committed to identifying, tracking, and condemning the hundreds of Republican state lawmakers who aided and abetted Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Its current Threats to Democracy website holds the most comprehensive account of state legislators and state legislative candidates complicit in the ongoing attack on our democracy. With more than 7,300 state legislative seats, the research for this project is ongoing, and the list continues to grow. The DLCC research team is actively soliciting tips for additional information at [email protected].
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