Trump’s GOP prevails
State lawmaker and 2020 election denier Mark Finchem has won the Republican nomination for secretary of state of Arizona, pushing him closer to being the state’s chief election officer during the 2024 presidential vote, while venture capitalist Blake Masters will represent the party in the state’s key Senate race in the fall.
Both GOP primaries were called early Wednesday as more votes were counted in Arizona. The Senate race, once a hotly-contested GOP primary, saw Masters soar to the top of the polls after receiving former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. It was one of two big nods powering Masters’ campaign, along with $15 million in super PAC support from tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Masters’ former employer.
The general election is set to be one of the most pivotal Senate campaigns in the country. Closely divided Arizona is key to the GOP’s hopes of flipping the 50-50 Senate. But Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is running a strong campaign, having banked tens of millions of dollars while Masters was battling in his primary. Kelly also still enjoys nonpartisan cred as a former astronaut — though Republicans have tried to chip away at that image with ads tying him to President Joe Biden his party in Washington. National GOP groups have already aired well over $35 million in ads going after Kelly this election cycle, according to AdImpact.
Masters, meanwhile, has staked out some far-right ground during his primary campaign, including parroting the false claim that Trump won the 2020 election. He has also touted the “Great Replacement” theory, a racist conspiracy theory alleging a plot to dilute the white population. And in an interview on the Jeff Oravits show this year, Masters said gun violence was caused by “Black people, frankly.”
In the secretary of state race, Finchem also got Trump’s backing — and is at the vanguard of a movement of Trump supporters seeking to take over election offices around the country and enact major changes after spreading conspiracy theories about the results of the 2020 elections. Finchem has said that he wants to ban early voting and drastically restrict mail-in ballots in a state that has been a pioneer in wide, bipartisan adoption of the previously uncontroversial voting practice. He is also suing to suspend all electronic vote-counting machines in Arizona.
Finchem will face the winner of the Democratic primary between Adrian Fontes, the former Maricopa County recorder, and Reginald Bolding, a state legislator, in November. Both parties have made the purple state a top target this fall, as sitting Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, ran for governor. She won her party’s primary for that office Tuesday, while on the GOP side, Kari Lake leads Karrin Taylor Robson in a race that’s too close to call so far.
Finchem is the latest member of the “America First Secretary of State Coalition” to secure the Republican nomination in a key battleground, putting candidates who have falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen in position, if they win their general elections, to administer the 2024 presidential vote in their states.
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified before the House Jan. 6 select committee about attempts made by former President Donald Trump and his allies to persuade him to decertify the state’s electoral votes, was defeated on Tuesday by Republican challenger David Farnsworth for an open state Senate seat.
They have purged anyone normal from the party.
On Finchem, the man who would run the 2024 election if he wins in November:
Leading Republican Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem has frequently asked for campaign help from Gab, the far-right social media platform that’s a haven for white nationalists and antisemites. Finchem has solicited donations from Gab users at least 25 times; requested that users sign his nominating petition; and implored them to go to the polls today and vote for him.
Finchem is an Arizona state representative, Oath Keeper militia member, and January 6 insurrectionist who is running in the state’s August 2 Republican primary. He’s been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and “has charged ahead in the lone series of public polling from OH Predictive Insights.” Finchem is a frequent guest on election-denying outlets like Steve Bannon’s program and One America News.
He is part of a QAnon-linked coalition of candidates who back the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and are now seeking offices that oversee voting in their respective states.
Gab caters to far-right extremists, including people who have been banned from other social media platforms. Many of its users are antisemites, neo-Nazis, and white nationalists. They also post calls for violence against Jewish people. In 2018, a Gab user posted antisemitic and violent remarks on the site before he allegedly killed 11 people in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.
Gab’s CEO is Andrew Torba, a virulent antisemite who has reposted attacks from other Gab users claiming that Jewish people are “subversive”; in control of the government, media, and financial institutions; and responsible for “white genocide.” He’s also reposted praise of Gab for offering “differing opinions” on the Holocaust.
Torba says that he supports a political movement in which non-Christians, including Jewish people, aren’t allowed. He said on July 22: “We don’t want people who are Jewish.” He also said that “we’re not bending the knee to the 2% anymore” and won’t be “told what we’re allowed to do in our own country by a 2% minority.” Torba’s connections to Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano have incited heavy criticism.
Finchem is a fan of Gab and its antisemitic CEO. On July 26, Torba “fully” endorsed six Republican candidates in Arizona: Kari Lake (governor), Finchem, Blake Masters (U.S. Senate), Andy Biggs (U.S. Congress), Paul Gosar (U.S. Congress), and Wendy Rogers (state Senate). (Lake and Masters rejected Torba’s endorsement.) Finchem responded on social media, including Gab, by saying that he was “honored” to have the endorsement. He also features Torba’s backing on his campaign website.
As I said, yikes. Let’s hope common sense prevails in Arizona in November or we are in deep trouble.