Arizona primary results show denialism’s lasting hold on GOP

Arizona’s primary results, in which supporters of President Donald Trump’s voting lies won the GOP nominations for the state’s three top posts, not only threaten fair elections in the Grand Canyon State. 

They also offer a stark reminder that, over half a decade after the 2020 contest, Republican voters in this key swing state remain in thrall to Trump’s election denialism.

It all underscores how denialism has taken root as a broadly accepted position within the GOP, strongly backed by the most fervent Republican activists — while support for voter suppression policies has become perhaps the single most unifying feature of the modern party.

In Arizona Tuesday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), won the party’s nomination in the race for governor, and will take on the incumbent, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) in the fall.

Biggs helped Trump in his effort to overturn the 2020 election, including objecting to counting Arizona’s electoral votes. He continues to refuse to say clearly that President Joe Biden won the election.

State Senate President Warren Peterson won the GOP’s attorney general nomination, and will face Attorney General Kris Mayes (D). 

Earlier this year, Peterson, who has long denied the 2020 results, handed over to the FBI the results of a flawed “audit” of Arizona’s 2020 results, part of a Trump administration probe of the contest. 

After Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) sought details about the voter information that had been shared, Peterson announced he had referred them to the U.S. Department of Justice for potential “obstruction of justice and witness tampering.”

Perhaps most strikingly, the party’s nomination for secretary of state was won by state Rep. Alexander Kolodin, who will take on Fontes in November. 

Kolodin filed the infamous “Kraken” lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 results, which was dismissed by a federal judge. 

“When people say it was stolen, I say it was stolen fair and square,” Kolodin said during a candidate forum in May.  

Of course, Arizona isn’t the only key state where denilaism holds sway among GOP voters. Last month, Georgia Republicans nominated election deniers for governor and U.S. Senate, and a backer of voter suppression policies for secretary of state. 

A recent States United study found that, as of the end of April, there were 53 election deniers running for governor, attorney general, or secretary of state in 24 states across the country.