Ariz. GOP reelects Kelli Ward; censures Cindy McCain, Ducey and Flake
PHOENIX – Kelli Ward, the fractious chief of the Arizona Republican Party, narrowly beat back significant competition on Saturday to win one other two-year time period because the group’s chairwoman regardless of the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
The intently watched outcome affords an early, state-level indication that Trump retains sway over the activist base of the GOP, although it’s extra tenuous. The election additionally suggests the longstanding divisions within the state social gathering within the Trump period haven’t abated.
Ward’s reelection was thought of a foregone conclusion weeks in the past, however many within the GOP had misgivings concerning the social gathering’s previous electoral efficiency on her watch and an unsure future heading into the 2022 midterm elections.
Under Ward, the state GOP joined a failed lawsuit in opposition to Vice President Mike Pence in search of to permit him to overturn the election outcomes. She additionally urged Pence on Twitter to adjourn Congress to permit state Legislatures to overturn their outcomes
The state social gathering usually used incendiary messaging since President Joe Biden’s victory – together with one social media put up asking supporters in the event that they have been prepared to offer their lives within the combat to overturn the election – and helped set up a baseline of radicalism for conservatives that culminated within the invasion of the Capitol.
Later Saturday, the state Republican Party members handed three resolutions censuring high-profile Republicans: Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain. It was one other signal of the social gathering’s transfer to the suitable.
The social gathering censured Ducey over his determination to impose emergency guidelines throughout the pandemic that the GOP stated “restrict personal liberties and force compliance to unconstitutional edicts.”
McCain, who endorsed President Joe Biden, “has supported globalist policies and candidates” and “condemned President Trump for his criticism of her husband and erroneously placed behaviors over actual presidential results.”
Flake has “condemned the Republican Party, rejected populism, and rejected the interests of the American people over globalist interests.” The social gathering steered Flake be a part of the Democrats.
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Sara Mueller, Ducey’s political director, took the censure in stride.
“These resolutions are of no consequence whatsoever, and the people behind them have lost whatever little moral authority they may have once had,” she stated.
J.P. Twist, Ducey’s former marketing campaign supervisor who now could be the political director of the Republican Governors Association that Ducey heads, steered monetary reprisals for the state social gathering.
“And with that, the AZGOP will have no significant role in ’22. No other option but to work with others. We’ve been here before. No big deal,” he said in a tweet after the vote.
McCain in a tweet alluded to her late husband Sen. John McCain’s personal battles with the social gathering.
“It is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so well … and who, like my late husband John, have been censured by the AZGOP. I’ll wear this as a badge of honor,” she stated.
Flake tweeted an image of himself with Ducey and McCain at Biden’s inauguration that stated merely, “Good company.”
The Greater Phoenix Leadership, an influential group within the enterprise group, famous its disapproval, saying, “The behaviors, actions & messages of the AZ GOP under the leadership of Kelli Ward remain disgraceful & disappointing.”
The dynamics of the race for GOP chair appeared to shift after the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol and after criticism that the social gathering had scheduled the censure votes.
Ward defeated Sergio Arellano in a run-off election after getting about 47% of the vote within the first balloting, which included three challengers. She received 52% on the second poll. It was a 42-vote margin over Arellano.
The assembly, held in particular person at Dream City Church however off-limits to most within the media, took a extra combative flip when Ward allowed Daniel McCarthy, a former U.S. Senate candidate who publicly floated the thought of making a 3rd social gathering after his 2020 GOP major loss, to handle the gang.
Amid boos from these readily available, McCarthy urged Ducey’s recall and known as the GOP a part of a “uni-party system” that does not supply true conservatism to its supporters.
“You have a uni-party system. I was blocked last year,” McCarthy stated. “They took a controlled opposition candidate and spoonfed them to you.
“Martha McSally, Doug Ducey, they’re managed opposition, and you know it. This social gathering put Doug Ducey in workplace and Doug Ducey needs to be recalled by this social gathering. … Why do not you wish to recall the person that licensed the fraudulent election?”
At one point Ward admonished disruptive members of the crowd: “You know what, folks? This isn’t Republican habits.” She declared them out of order and stated they’d be escorted from the assembly ground.
The spectacle renewed the feud between Ducey and Ward that has simmered since the election, and suggests the grassroots of the Arizona Republican Party intends to double down on Trump’s style of combative conservatism in the 2022 midterm elections.
Ducey’s standing with the activists in the state GOP continued to plummet. Last year, the two-term governor who now heads the Republican Governors Association was shouted into silence by some at the GOP meeting a year ago, largely because of his support for red-flag laws that would allow authorities to temporarily take away guns from those deemed a threat to themselves or others.
Heading into the meeting this year, Ducey had directly crossed Trump by certifying the state’s election results and ignoring a call from Trump at the moment he was doing so.
The state party remained fixated on the baseless allegations of election fraud that helped bring together those in the mob. There were calls Saturday to prevent stolen elections through corrupt administrators, “poll harvesting” and rigged machinery.
Biden won Arizona by less than 11,000 votes, the tightest margin in the country and only the second win for Democrats in the state since 1948. The victory by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., gave the state its first pair of Democratic senators since 1953.
Ward’s closest competitor, Arellano, runs an arms-manufacturing company and a political consulting company, Tipping Point, LLC. He decided to challenge Ward after seeing what he called “the deterioration of our group and our majority” under Ward.
“I convey the organizational data, expertise and skills to convey this social gathering again, with a message that not solely embraces range but in addition capitalizes on the motivations of Republicans,” he said before the election.
After the results were announced, Arellano and Ward walked on stage together in a move intended to show party unity. “It’s time for us to unite, come collectively and win,” he said with Ward at his side.
Follow Ronald J. Hansenon Twitter @ronaldjhansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez on Twitter and Facebook.
