Donald Trump and Kari Lake announced their endorsement Friday of the Voter Reference Foundation’s Gina Swoboda for Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) chair. Jeff DeWit was forced to resign this past week after a recording was released of him attempting to convince Lake to stay out of politics for two years by offering her a well-paying job instead. The election will be held on Saturday at the AZGOP’s annual mandatory meeting for state committeemen.
Lake announced the endorsements on X Friday evening. “I am proud to join President Trump in endorsing Gina Swoboda to become Arizona GOP’s next Chair at tomorrow’s vote,” she said. “Gina has never backed away from working for honest elections, and she is respected in the Republican Party. I am confident that Gina will help deliver Arizona for President Trump and flip control of the U.S. Senate.”
Team Trump, an official account on X for Trump, posted, “President Trump just spoke to Gina Swoboda and offered his full support and endorsement of her for next Arizona GOP Chair. Gina is a strong fighter for election integrity and will be relentless in her work to deliver Arizona for President Trump and Kari Lake in 2024.”
The endorsements were soon followed by others: Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), State Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa), State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson), State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale), State Representative Austin Smith (R-Surprise), former AZGOP chair Kelli Ward, former Maricopa County GOP Chair and Turning Point COO Tyler Bowyer, Republican attorney Harmeet Dhillon, and the Arizona Freedom Caucus. More endorsements are expected throughout the evening.
https://x.com/votewarren/status/1751063797522178355?s=10
Honored to join @TeamTrump and @KariLake to ENDORSE my Arizona Senate ELECTIONS Committee EXPERT @GinaSwoboda for @AZGOP CHAIR. Gina knows more about election law than anyone. It is Gina who’ll fix the corruption to get our state back.
ELECT GINA NOW. @azaustinsmith… pic.twitter.com/fELwrQcqL2— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) January 27, 2024
Fully support Gina! https://t.co/GcMxJuK98R
— Rep. Joseph Chaplik 🇺🇸 (@JosephChaplik) January 27, 2024
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor, who is also solid on election integrity, is running as a slate with Vera Gebran, Shiry Sapir, Gary Snyder, David Lara, Raymond Bashkingy (Michaels), Kevin Maldonado, and Carol Ayotte. Some of the slate were not nominated in time so are write-in candidates.
Other candidates that have been nominated include Gina Maloney for 1st Vice Chairman, running against Gebran. Alan Nichols, Christopher King, and Greg Wilkinson are running against Sapir for 2nd Vice Chairman. Kristine Morrissey and Christopher Campbell are running against Snyder for 3rd Vice Chairman. Carie Hughes is running against Lara for Sergeant at Arms. Elizabeth Kennedy is running for Assistant Treasurer against Maldonado. Shirley Dye is running for Assistant Secretary against Ayotte.
Additionally, Debi Birch, Ian Murray, and Tracy Ireland are running for Member at Large from Congressional District 4.
Last year, The Arizona Sun Times ran a series of three articles about an interview conducted with Swoboda on election integrity. The first segment addressed problems with Arizona’s voter rolls, the second segment went over the problems with the 2022 election in Maricopa County including officials’ gaslighting, and the last segment identified officials’ missteps in that election.
Swoboda’s Voter Reference Foundation “is dedicated to ensuring transparent, accurate and fair elections,” which includes providing “educational information about how our elections process works and how elections data is compiled and maintained nationwide.” On its sister site, voteref.com, Swoboda has compiled a searchable database of publicly available voter data information, from the states that allow release of those records.
Former state legislator Jill Norgaard is currently serving as interim chair. The letter inviting Republicans to the meeting is here.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gina Swoboda” by Gina Swoboda. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
