Arizona voters are heading to the polls to formally set into motion the races for a coveted Senate seat and a closely watched House post that could tilt control in Congress, along with other primaries throughout the state.
But The Grand Canyon State has been rocked in recent election cycles by tense disputes over election outcomes and become a hotbed of election denialism. Multiple top candidates in today’s GOP primaries helped fuel the election distrust.
At the top of the ticket, Republican Kari Lake, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in the Senate race to face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in November, has the backing of former President Trump. She has been one of the most vocal deniers of the 2020 election results in Arizona, when President Biden beat Trump by fewer than 11,000 votes in the state.
Following Trump’s 2020 blueprint, Lake also has refused to acknowledge her loss in the 2022 campaign for governor and unsuccessfully challenged the outcome in court claiming she was the victim of a stolen election.
She faces Republicans Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and neuroscientist Elizabeth Jean Reye in the primary.
Polls analyzed by Decision Desk HQ and The Hill show Gallego has a tight lead in a hypothetical matchup with Lake, averaging 47.1 percent to her 43 percent in recent surveys.
Other prominent GOP election deniers with unsuccessful 2022 campaigns also appear on today’s ballots.
Two candidates facing each other — Abe Hamadeh, who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general, and Blake Masters, who lost a bid for the Senate — have both secured Trump‘s “Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Congressman of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District,” despite a bitter battle between the two.
Lake also has endorsed Hamadeh.
Hamadeh and Masters are viewed as the frontrunners, while they also face state House Speaker Ben Toma, former Rep. Trent Franks and state Sen. Anthony Kern, a former Trump aide who was among the fake electors in a failed scheme to give the 2020 win to Trump.
The winner will go on to face Democrat Gregory Whitten in the November race to replace retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko (R) in Arizona’s 8th District, which Republicans have held for the past decade.
In a campaign ad during his failed 2022 Senate race, Masters bluntly declared, “I think Trump won in 2020.” He ultimately acknowledged Biden as the “legitimate president” during debate and said he had seen no evidence of fraud.
Katherine Keneally, director of threat analysis and prevention for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s U.S. branch of election denialism, told The Hill it’s not surprising to see election denialism continue to flourish in Arizona as prominent figures who have spread misinformation about outcomes continue to seek office.
“With those campaigns ongoing, these narratives just could never disappear,” she said.
Election deniers also are seeking office down the ballot in Arizona, from the state Legislature to county offices.
Lesko, who voted in the House to overturn election results on 6 January, is running for an open Maricopa County supervisor seat. She has Trump’s endorsement too.
