In 2016, the Republicans of Arizona both controlled the Senate seats and achieved a victory over Donald J. Trump. By 2020, they had lost each of the nationwide elections, and Mr. Trump was one of only two Republican presidential candidates to lose the state in more than 50 years.
The losses do not lead to any search for the Republican Party.
Instead, when party leadership meets this weekend, the most pressing topics on the agenda will be the sensation of three moderate Republicans remaining very popular in Arizona. The anything but certain state party scolding will have no practical impact, but the symbolism is strong: a pat on the wrist for Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain; former senator Jeff Flake and Gov. Doug Ducey.
While some Republicans nationwide are starting to move away from Trumpism, Arizona is a case of doubling loyalists, possibly dividing the party in fundamental and irreparable ways. The consequences may be particularly acute in a state that has long been a safe Republican bet, but which has had a significant political shift in recent years, mainly due to the increasing political participation of young Latinos and the changing view of the white suburban women.
State Party chairwoman Kelli Ward, who was first elected in 2019, has announced that she will only be re-elected after meeting with Mr. Trump chatted, which she said encouraged her enthusiastically. Me. Ward called for fundraisers for months to talk about what she calls the ‘stolen’ election. Arizona state lawmakers have held regular “Stop the Steal” rallies that have fueled conspiracy theories and accusations of fraud. Two state congressmen helped plan the January 6 protest in Washington, which drew the mob that later stormed the Capitol. They also wrote supportive statements about the rioters.
When Ali Alexander, a primary organizer of the Capitol rally, wrote on Twitter, “I am willing to give up my life for this fight,” the Republican Party report in Arizona tweeted again, asking its followers: He is. Are you?”
Extreme extremism is hardly new in Arizona. The state has given birth to anti-immigrant border militias, legislation that has effectively legalized racial profiling, and is home to Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, who has uttered a harsh message about immigration. But the kind of Trump fervor that has been displayed in the state since the November election has gained momentum that even some conservatives in the state find worrying. Within hours of Joseph R. Biden Jr. when the winner of the election was declared, hundreds of protesters showed up at the State Capitol, many people threw military weapons and waved flags that Mr. Trump portrayed as Rambo.
The Republican Party in Arizona has long advocated and promoted extremist elements, especially with regard to immigration, and has an anti-government series that extends to Barry Goldwater, a former state senator. Yet some Republicans in Arizona have now begun sounding the alarm, warning that the party is pushing itself into oblivion in a state where independent voters make up nearly a third of the electorate.
“The angry, ominous messages that are now coming out of the party are not going to win the new west,” said Adam Kwasman, a former lawmaker who was previously named one of the most conservative lawmakers in the state. and what last year for mr. Trump voted.
He said his loyalty was more with the party than the president. “If we want Arizona not to become Colorado, but to just hand over this state to the Democrats, we need to be laser-focused on working families, and if we do not do that, we are doomed,” he said, adding: “We’re really upset.”
There are already hints that Mr. Kwasman is really worried. Nearly 5,000 registered voters abandoned their participation in the Republican Party in the week after January 6th. Some former Republican agents warn that a constant erosion is coming from the party’s narrow lead in voter registration.
“There are a series of ceremonies going on at the moment,” said Chuck Coughlin, a longtime Republican strategist in Phoenix who changed his own party affiliation in 2017 and is now an independent. In the dozens of calls Coughlin received from concerned Republicans, he said his advice was consistent: Do not bother to save someone who supports ‘acts of rioting’. ‘It has become a party of contempt for any authority except for one man. The Republican Party is now in the midst of its own French revolution. ”
It is difficult to know how much the state party leadership represents the core of the Republicans. But thousands of voters turned up at the State Capitol in Phoenix for a number of “Stop the Steal” marches, including an impromptu rally on the day of the November general election. As with other heads of state across the country, the copper-domed building in Phoenix was surrounded by a six-foot wire fence over the weekend, and law enforcement is still aware of possible violence on Inauguration Day.
A group of Republican lawmakers has issued a subpoena to the Supervisory Board of Maricopa Province demanding that the counting machines, along with the images of all ballot papers and detailed voter information, be converted. Although Democrats across the country won, Republicans retained control of both houses of the Legislature, enabling them to continue the debilitating idea of fraud, despite the fact that all eight legal challenges in court failed. .
“We have retained our majority, and that is more reason to suspect a fraudulent election,” Sonny Borrelli, a state senator, falsely suggested that the presidential ballot had been tampered with. Mr. Borrelli said he has received more than 100,000 messages from Arizona residents urging the Legislature to further investigate claims of fraud. “It just adds fuel to the fire, and we’re going to focus on the fire,” he said. “That’s our job.”
A statewide test for the party is not far off: Mark Kelly, the Democrat who won a special election for his Senate seat in November, will be re-elected in 2022. Mr. Ducey is widely discussed as a potential challenger, running as a business-friendly moderate. However, Republicans across the spectrum say that Mr. Ducey was the last Republican to win a nationwide election, but to run an uphill battle in a Republican primary.
“It would be a bare-knuckle fight, and it would probably be nasty,” he said. Coughlin said.
Mr. Ducey and his assistants declined to comment on this article, and he is not expected to challenge the state party’s vote to condemn him.
The accusations of nasty things do not seem to deter the state party or Ms Ward, who did not return to comment. Last month, Mrs. Ward on mr. Ducey tweeted with the hashtag #STHU – internet speaks for ‘close the hell’ – when mr. Ducey defends the state’s election process.
Mr. Ducey responded by saying that the feeling is mutual and that Mrs. Ward ‘must practice what you preach’.
And this is not the first time the state party has landed a public flap with the McCain family. In 2014, the party Mr. McCain himself condemned his voting record.
Me. McCain responded to the same possible annoyance and entertainment at the threat of her own censorship.
“It’s about doing what’s right for the country,” she said. McCain said during an appearance on ‘The View’, which is presented with her daughter Meghan. “Sure, Senator Flake and our governor have made very difficult decisions lately and in the past, but it has been for the good of our state and our country.”
“You know, I’m in good company,” she added. “I think I’m going to make T-shirts for everyone and wear them.”
Mr. Flake, who endorsed Biden in the presidential election, posted on Twitter that he too was not concerned about the censorship.
“If it is necessary to approve of the president’s conduct in order to remain in favor of the Party, I can do well,” he wrote.
Robert Graham, who served as chairman of the state party from 2013 to 2017, called the censorship a waste of time and pointed out that Mr. McCain won each of the nationwide elections he hosted.
“The sole purpose of a state party is to win elections,” he said. Graham said. “If the president attacks someone in his family, you break up the party. The resolution will pass, it will deny a bunch of Republicans and it will be put in a folder and become memorabilia forever. ‘
Instead of breaking the foundation further, Mr. Graham said, party officials should be focused on solidarity.
“The law encouraged even more because they had someone in the top office with a giant megaphone,” he said. ‘But in Arizona you have a governor who was in his last term. So it’s time for the Republican Party to rally, rally and change to what it’s going to be for the next four years. The mission here is supposed to be if you get beaten up, make a transformative refreshment. ‘
John Fillmore, a state representative who has attended several protests, likens the debate within the party to a ‘cleansing’ and says he is more concerned with purifying those who have criticized Trump than losing voters.
“The party is discouraged and absolute supporters like Jeff Flake and Liz Cheney will feel the wrath of Republican voters,” Fillmore said. ‘We’re a family, and eventually members of the family approached the family and did so with vengeance. This is what The Godfather said: Never act against the family. It’s sad. “
On January 6 in Phoenix, a group of protesters protesting against the certification of the results of the presidential election erected a guillotine near the Capitol with the golden dome. The group passed on a document to reporters explaining its actions: According to them, concerned Americans are concerned that votes were not counted properly. They ‘met peacefully, called and begged their elected officials to listen to their concerns’.
When they gathered, the mob in Washington violated the country’s Capitol building – actions that the Arizona party would later blame on antifa.
On Sunday, in Phoenix and in capitals across the country, law enforcement officials descended for another round of protest marches. Only a handful of protesters showed up. The guillotine was gone.