Trump’s Rally Leaves The #AZSen Primary More Chaotic Than Ever

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Contact: Sarah Guggenheimer, sguggenheimer@azdem.org

Trump’s Rally Leaves The #AZSen Primary More Chaotic Than Ever

In one night, former President Trump managed to throw gasoline on the already blazing fire that is the AZ Senate GOP primary. Refusing to make an endorsement, saying he would wait until the “right time,” Trump instead made clear that he sees the 2020 election as the main issue of 2022 and the ultimate “purity test” in this Senate race. Of course, he did save plenty of time to attack Governor Doug Ducey following rumors he’s considering a Senate run – slamming the door on any possibility that Ducey could win Trump’s support, or the support of the far-right.

In response to Trump’s edict, the Senate primary field has done their best to comply – fighting each other on TV, on Twitter, and at each other’s offices to prove who best backs the lies around an election decided over a year ago.

Check out just some of the coverage of Trump’s visit below:

AZ Republic: Trump resumes attacks on Biden, Ducey in combative Arizona appearance

Trump repeated his criticism of former ally Gov. Ducey, the fellow Republican who is contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

“He’s not going to get my endorsement,” Trump said of Ducey. “Ducey has been a terrible, terrible representative of your state.”…

Trump repeated his hope that Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich would take action on the state Senate’s review of Maricopa County ballots, even though that recount didn’t find or claim widespread fraud.

And Trump name-checked GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters…

New York Times: Trump Rally Underscores G.O.P. Tension Over How to Win in 2022

Those worries are particularly acute in Arizona, where the far-right, Trump-endorsed candidates could prove too extreme in a state that moved Democratic in the last election as voters came out in large numbers to oppose Mr. Trump. The myth of widespread voter fraud is animating Arizona campaigns in several races, alarming Republicans who argue that indulging the former president’s misrepresentations and falsehoods about 2020 is jeopardizing the party’s long-term competitiveness.

“I’ve never seen so many Republicans running in a primary for governor, attorney general, Senate,” said Chuck Coughlin, a Republican consultant who has worked on statewide races in Arizona for two decades. “Usually you get two, maybe three. But not five.”

CBS News: Trump holds first 2022 rally in Arizona as heated GOP Senate primary is underway

“The audit issue, especially for Republicans on the ticket this year, it’s like walking a tightrope of floss,” said Mike Noble, chief of research at the nonpartisan polling firm OH Predictive Insights.

Lamon rallied outside of Brnovich’s office in December, calling for more action. Masters said Brnovich “needs to hold people accountable where laws were broken” and thinks Brnovich is trying to “kick the can past the primary so that he can pretend to be tough on election integrity.”

“It’s always easy to take cheap shots from the cheap seats,” a Brnovich campaign spokesperson said in a statement. “Attorney General Brnovich remains focused on doing his duly elected job and will present the findings when his office concludes the investigation.”

Insider: Trump says he will ‘never’ endorse Republican Doug Ducey if the Arizona governor jumps into the state’s 2022 Senate race

The Hill: Trump to make election claims center stage in Arizona

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