How Trump-backed candidates are faring in Arizona primary races
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem gives an interview last night. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
All of the candidates endorsed by Trump have won or are in front in Arizona's statewide races, with U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters leading the way.
What's happening: Lake has a razor thin lead over Karrin Taylor Robson while Masters notched a commanding lead over competitors Jim Lamon, Mark Brnovich, Justin Olson and Mick McGuire.
- The gubernatorial winner will face Katie Hobbs, who won her primary Tuesday.
- Masters will face Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly, who is seeking a full term after winning a special election in 2020 to fill the final two years of the late John McCain's term.
What else is happening: Mark Finchem won the secretary of state race. Abraham Hamadeh is up in the six-way Republican primary for attorney general.
- Finchem will face either Adrian Fontes or Reginald Bolding.
- Kris Mayes ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for attorney general.
The intrigue: All four of the Trump-backed statewide Republicans campaigned on the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged. Both Lake and Finchem claimed without evidence in recent weeks that there had been fraud in the primary.
- The governor, secretary of state and attorney general must certify the results of all statewide elections.
- Finchem is a leading proponent of the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged. He organized a November hearing where Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies aired conspiracy theories about the election and was part of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Trump also endorsed several candidates in legislative races, most notably the GOP primary for the Senate in east Mesa-based District 10, where former Sen. David Farnsworth trounced House Speaker Rusty Bowers.
- Bowers earned the ire of Trump and many of his supporters by rejecting the false claims regarding the 2020 election and for his testimony to Congress' Jan. 6 committee. There, he described Trump's pressure to overturn Joe Biden's win in Arizona.
- All other Trump-endorsed legislative candidates are leading, including Anthony Kern, a former legislator who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and Sen. Wendy Rogers, who has a history of inflammatory and offensive comments, and was censured by the Senate earlier this year following her speech to a white nationalist conference.