For Immediate Release
Wednesday, November 1st, 2023
Contact: Victoria Opperman, communications@azdem.org
Arizona Democratic Party Statement on Former Rep. Trent Franks Entering Messy AZ-08 Primary 

ARIZONA- Today, disgraced former AZ-08 Rep. Trent Franks announced that he is entering the “Nasty Intra-MAGA Primary” for Debbie Lesko’s Congressional seat. Chairwoman of the Arizona Democratic Party, Yolanda Bejarano, released the following statement.

“Trent Franks is the architect of MAGA Arizona Republicans’ extreme stances on abortion,” said Chairwoman of the Arizona Democratic Party, Yolanda Bejarnao. “When Trent Franks represented AZ-08, he was a far-right member of the Freedom Caucus who had to resign in disgrace after accusations of sexual misconduct. Franks is just as extreme as Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh, and his addition into the AZ-08 primary proves that this will be a messy and extreme fight between men whose values do not align with Arizonans.”

Trent Franks is a MAGA Republican: 

• Trent Franks resigned from Congress amid accusations of sexually harassing staff. Trent Franks resigned after the House Ethics Committee announced it was opening an investigation into potential sexual misconduct for asking female staffers about surrogacy.
• Trent Franks is the leader of the anti-abortion movement. Franks introduced a bill to ban and make abortion a crime at 20 weeks four times while in Congress. The last time he introduced the bill in 2017, the Trump administration praised the bill, writing that the administration “applauds the House of Representatives for continuing its efforts to secure critical pro-life protections.”
• Trent Franks defended passing an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. While the House debated on his abortion ban bill, Franks made multiple comments about rape- stating that “The incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low” and “My bill does nothing to restrict abortion even before the first five months, so all issues related to rape are long since dealt with.“
• Trent Franks said that Black People were better off under slavery. In 2010, Franks said, “Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery.”
• Trent Franks is anti-gay marriage. Trent Franks was caught on tape saying that gay marriage “literally is a threat to the nation’s survival in the long run.”
• Trent Franks is anti-environment. During his time in Congress, he voted to open the Arctic Ocean’s outer continental shelf for oil drilling and supported legislation barring the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gasses. According to Open Secrets, no other lawmaker at the time was more heavily invested in the oil and gas industry. Franks profited off of his anti-climate agenda with his net worth increasing by $25 million during his time in office.

###