Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda joined Thursday’s edition of The Afternoon Addiction with Garret Lewis on KFYI to discuss her experience as an election official and how her extensive knowledge of election laws will benefit her in her new position as chair.
“One of the issues I think we have had historically is that there has not been a process expert, a subject matter expert, that works with the attorneys to explain to them, ‘this is what should be happening, this is not what’s happening, flag on the court.’ The election attorneys are great, but they are election attorneys, not election administrators,” Swoboda explained. “I’m a certified election official and I’ve helped administer elections…so I know what’s supposed to be happening, I know when things are not supposed to be happening, or when we should be doing things that we are not doing.”
“You have to have that person in the room because if you don’t, you’re not going to stop the bad activity because it’s too late,” Swoboda added.
Swoboda, noting that her dad is a Marine, described herself as a “chain of command person” who “lights up the chain” when she notices something unethical or wrong.
Swoboda was elected chair at the annual AZGOP Mandatory Meeting of the State Committee last week following the resignation of former chair Jeff DeWit, who was caught allegedly trying to convince Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake to stay out of politics for two years by suggesting he could find her a well-paying nonpolitical job in the private sector.
On the topic of bribery, Swoboda, who Lake and former President Donald Trump endorsed for the role, said during Thursday’s interview that she cannot be bribed.
“I’m against bribes of all kinds,” Swoboda said. “I wouldn’t even bribe my kids with sugar when they were little – I think it sets a bad example and you get more bad behavior.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Gina Swoboda” by Kerri Toloczko. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
