In the wake of the Kari Lake candidacy for governor, the Arizona GOP is reportedly running out of money: Republicans in Arizona didn’t only lose gubernatorial and senatorial races in 2022- they’re reportedly having financial trouble as well.
Kari Lake: Destroyer of GOP?
A report this week stated that, in addition to a lack of electoral success of late, the Arizona Republican Party is close to broke.
According to an op-ed in the Arizona Republic, the party has gone from having $770,000 in cash on hand four years ago to just $50,000 or so today. This comes after gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Senate candidate Blake Masters both lost what was considered winnable races in the 2022 cycle.
Lake, who maintains to this day that she won the election in 2020 but has lost every lawsuit she has brought alleging that, said recently that she is considering running for the Senate in 2024. However, Lake is also reportedly angling to be named as Trump’s vice presidential choice in 2024.
Per the op-ed, by Jon Gabriel, a large chunk of that money went towards a series of fruitless challenges to the 2020 election result in the state, and later challenges to the gubernatorial election two years later that they also lost.
“The party blew $300,000 on ‘legal consulting,’ much of which focused on overturning Trump’s 2020 defeat. All they have to show for it are a Democratic governor and U.S. Senate delegation,” Gabriel writes.
He added that the Republicans, like the Democrats, are losing their share in the state to independents.
“The reasons for this are pretty obvious. In our angry politics of hot takes and sick burns, a growing number don’t want to be associated with the more, ahem, passionate segments of either party,” the columnist said. “Their policy views likely lean more to one side than the other, but independents have little interest in inventing conspiracy theories or screaming in the streets.”
Reuters reported separately about the poor finances of the state party in Arizona, noting that in Michigan, as well as Arizona, Republican donors have been less likely to contribute, following years of election denial.
“The withdrawal of bankrollers… reflects the high price Republicans in the battleground states of Michigan and Arizona are paying for their full-throated support of former President Trump and his unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him,” the Reuters report said.
“Legal fees were paid to a firm that had filed lawsuits seeking to overturn Trump’s defeat in Arizona, according to separate campaign and legal disclosures,” Reuters said. “Money was also paid to attorneys who represented Kelli Ward, the former party chair when the Justice Department subpoenaed her over her involvement in a plan to falsely certify to Congress that Trump, and not Democratic President Joe Biden, had won Arizona, plus when a congressional committee subpoenaed her phone records.”
In addition, $500,000 was spent on an election night party and “bus tour for statewide Trump-backed candidates,” Reuters said.
In Michigan, meanwhile, there were media reports of a “violent brawl” at a Michigan GOP committee meeting in Clare, Mich.
Jeff DeWit, a former Trump aide, became the new head of the state party earlier this year. He replaces Kelli Ward, a longtime pusher of election conspiracy theories, although he had the support of Lake and Mark Finchem, who also lost an election, for secretary of state, and challenged the result.
Per Newsweek, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs was ambushed over the weekend at her gym by an operative from the website Gateway Pundit, who peppered her with questions about the 2022 election.
“I have some questions about the election in Arizona. You know, Maricopa County, they did these secret testing on the machines, which per the election procedural manual, you were supposed to oversee to additional testing. Did you authorize this?,” the reporter asked, as Hobbs elected not to respond.
“Give it a ******* rest, Jordan,” Hobbs finally said, “I’m at the gym.”
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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