A new moderate Republican group, Conservative Agenda for Arizona (CAA), emerged recently in Arizona. Its leadership and advisory board are mainly Republicans associated with the party’s moderate wing, including outgoing Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
Richer started a PAC for GOP fraud deniers soon after he took office and said during the Republican primary this year that he intended to vote for Joe Biden instead of Donald Trump for president.
State Affairs described the organization, “A group of conservatives have formed a new coalition to break away from the GOP … several Republicans who have spoken out against former President Donald Trump and criticized election denialism sit on its advisory board.” The article “Former Arizona congressman leads coalition to fight election denialism” refers to former Congressman Matt Salmon, who co-chairs CAA.
In an interview with the Arizona Capitol Times, Salmon said, “With so many conspiracy theories that have been thrown out there and the election denialism, a lot of conservatives want to get back to our roots so to speak.” He criticized conservatives in Congress. “The House Freedom Caucus started out with very good intentions. it morphed into a cheering section for Trump when I left. … They became a bunch of sycophants and people that were rubber stamps for whatever Trump wanted. … He’s not a conservative. Never has been.”
Salmon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for governor against Kari Lake in 2022, dropping out at the last minute and endorsing moderate Karrin Taylor Robson. He said after exiting the race that Lake winning the Republican nomination would be a “big mistake for Arizona … I don’t think Kari Lake is real in any way shape or form.” He demanded that State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) resign over her remarks during a speech criticizing the Left. Salmon called for Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race in May.
Much of the leadership of CAA is tied to the late Senator John McCain. CAA’s other co-chair is former Arizona Republican Party Chair Jonathan Lines, who currently serves as a Yuma County Supervisor. Lines was considered an ally of McCain. When Kelli Ward defeated him in 2019, replacing him as state GOP chair, The Arizona Republic said, “In doing so, the party committeemen rejected a more moderate vision for Arizona GOP politics associated with the long-serving late U.S. Sen. John McCain and former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake…”
Bettina Nava, an advisor to the group, served as a Republican advisor for Kamala Harris. She gave her reasoning here. “By voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, our Democracy has a chance to live out a proud legacy where we can dwell in possibility and create the Arizona and nation that we aspire to be,” she said.
Navea told Alternet that her main issues are abortion rights and election denialism.
Rudy Cota III, who serves as executive director for CAA, worked as a staffer for Representative Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-01) until last year.
Advisor Matt Kenney, a consultant for moderate Republicans who served as the executive director of an independent expenditure effort to re-elect McCain in 2016, told NPR his reasoning for the new organization. “We’ve used this as an opportunity to bring together your Big Tent conservatives who want to see confidence restored in the election system and back in democracy,” he said.
Tenney represents Arizonans for Secure Elections (ASE), which states on its homepage, “Arizona’s elections are safe, secure and accurate.” ASE is a project of the Campaign Legal Center, which takes a progressive outlook on voting. Kenney runs Echo Canyon Consulting with two former McCain officials, Jon Seaton and Ryan Price.
Lorna Ferguson, who advises CAA, was the communications director for the 2016 John McCain for U.S. Senate Campaign. There, she served as McCain’s spokeswoman and developed targeted messaging for the campaign.
Former Arizona legislator Paul Boyer serves as an advisor. He declined to run for reelection to the legislature in 2022 after polls showed he could not win due to his unpopularity from opposing election integrity efforts. Kim Owens, who has a lengthy history in Arizona politics as a vocal McCain supporter, serves as an advisor.
Other advisors include Bill Gates and Clint Hickman, two outgoing Maricopa County Supervisors known as election fraud deniers. The supervisors asked for sanctions against Lake and her attorneys after she filed election lawsuits and stonewalled attempts from the Arizona Legislature and the Arizona Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit to obtain documents and equipment from the 2020 election.
Another advisor, Jane Anderson, said during an interview with The Arizona Capitol Times a few days ago that she is “a huge fan of Stephen Richer.”
She also praised Gates, Hickman, and former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers.
Bowers lost his primary election in 2022 by over 20 points due to his opposition to election integrity.
“I still think there’s an issue with protecting democracy,” Anderson said. “If we have one candidate that was willing to say that the election was stolen and it filters down to a mistrust and distrust in our institutions, that’s pretty dangerous.”
Anderson is the state director for Mormon Women for Ethical Government and said the group’s priorities at the legislature this coming year are “protecting democracy, immigration, rooting out racism…”
Advisor Johnny Melton, a newly elected councilmember on the Surprise City Council, whose username on X is @RINOLivesMatter, claimed during an interview with West Valley Jen, discussing an article in the Arizona Daily Independent about the new group, that CAA isn’t “anti-Trump.” However, he said, “Stephen Richer, Matt Kenney, Matt Salmon, me, we’re, you know, we are not election deniers. I’m not going to be. I’m not going around sounding conspiracy theories about elections.”
He admitted that some group members may have voted for Harris over Trump.
“There could be, there could be people on that list who, who supported the vice president in the last election. I’m not one of them,” Melton said.
CAA held a forum last month to address the problem of combating “misinformation” online. Panelists included Paul Fagan, the director of Democracy Programs at Arizona State University’s McCain Institute, and Travis Bruner, the Arizona director of Protect Democracy. Bruner’s job description says he “focus[es] on preventing election subversion.”
According to KNXV, CAA ran billboards immediately before the election that said, “Conservatives Support Our Election Workers” and “Thank You Election Workers.”
CAA’s website was still under construction in August, but by November, it was up. The website has scant details about the organization.
The only description says, “The Conservative Agenda for Arizona is dedicated to mobilizing conservatives across our great state through dynamic convenings, engaging dinners, and other community events,” the site states. “We aim to educate our members on core issues, including the intricacies of our electoral process, and to effectively communicate our shared values through clear and impactful statements. Our mission is to strengthen the conservative movement in Arizona by fostering a well-informed, active, and unified community.”
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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 “Stephen Richer” by Stephen Richer. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
