Patriots of Arizona put on a rally Monday night at Dream City Church in Phoenix featuring a long list of candidates running for office, from local school board candidates to Kari Lake for governor. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed several of them, and most of his picks are leading in the polls. Emceed by pundit Kevin Jackson, the theme of “Big Tent Event: Unite & Win Again” was how Republicans are set to sweep Arizona on November 8.
Jackson opened the event telling the crowd of several hundred, along with 27 organizations, some of which had booths outside the event, “I’m Kevin Jackson and my pronouns are FJB.” The founder and president of Patriots of Arizona, Bonnie Ebstyne, thanked the church for hosting the event, noting that “other churches have not opened their doors.”
Jackson asked, “What happened to all this toxic masculinity?” He pointed out how Lake is about to become the next governor, Kelli Ward is the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, and the organizations present are led by women.
State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale), who is vying to be the next Arizona House Speaker, warned that the Democrats’ calls for democracy are dangerous. “Democracy creates power for the majority, denies the rights of the minority,” he said.
Chaplik added Europe is already there, and Canada is on its way.
Alex Kolodin, an election law attorney running for the state House in LD-3, said, “Democrats are waging war on the First Amendment. … They want to throw you in jail.”
Actor Kevin Sorbo appeared via video, repeating a theme common throughout the evening, “The country is watching.” He added mysteriously, “I will see you soon.”
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who was appointed to the position and is now running against Democrat Julie Gunnigle, declared, “There is no such thing as ‘down ballot.’ Every single race is important.” She said the reason crime is high in places like Chicago is that the district attorney there “isn’t upholding the law” and “the city council doesn’t support the police.”
She said her office would prosecute 90 percent of the felonies committed in Maricopa County. Mitchell said Gunnigle wants to get rid of cash bail, allowing defendants to bail out without putting up any money.
Jackson recommended the book Parallel Election, A Blueprint for Deception, which discusses voter fraud during the 2020 election in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Shelby Busch, chair of We the People AZ Alliance, told attendees about a new project her organization is launching called Patriots in Action at the Arizona Capitol. It will educate Arizonans on how to engage in citizen lobbying. She said it’s important to be prepared, since a Democrat withdrew as the only candidate in the heavily Democrat LD-22, voters should write in Steve Robinson, who co-founded the group with Busch.
Next, Jackson introduced Lake. He said, “Kari Lake has been described as a female Ron DeSantis, but Kari will be better for Arizona than DeSantis is for Florida.” The crowd began chanting, “Kari! Kari! Kari!”
Lake began, “I feel something big happening in Arizona.” She said she’d heard that her Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs “held her biggest event of the season and there were like 22 people there.” Lake contrasted that to one of her events which had 4,000 people.
She said she left “the corrupt news media” to go into “the more corrupt swamp.” She told a story about her friend’s daughter who dressed up as her for Halloween. “In her hand, she held a chicken that said ‘Katie Hobbs,’” Lake joked. She encouraged those who are elderly or sick to get involved. “God wasn’t done with Benjamin Franklin at 81,” she pointed out. Franklin was 81 when he signed the Declaration of Independence.
In a retort directed at Democrats who declare that Republicans are trying to destroy “our democracy,” Lake cited Franklin’s response to a woman who asked him what form of government the U.S. has. “A Republic, if you can keep it,” he said.
Ward gave a rousing speech, declaring, “Arizona is the tip of the spear to save this nation. We’re ground zero for America First.”
She noted how “we also un-elected some people in the primary who weren’t standing up for Republican principles.”
State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona secretary of state, advised people to vote in person on Election Day. He said if they received an early ballot, they should spoil it and merely use it as a guide, requesting a new ballot inside the polling location. If voters do choose to return their early ballots, they should drop them off in person at the elections office in advance rather than mail it or drop it off in a ballot drop box. Additionally, he said it’s not a good idea to drop off an early ballot on Election Day since those ballots are the last to be counted and enough of them will delay the counting for days.
Finchem announced that he’d spoken earlier in the day with Trump, who said he would send $250,000 to a PAC to support him.
Next, Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ-06), Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), and Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) spoke on a panel. Biggs explained that only four of Arizona’s 11 members of Congress are Republicans but that it is likely to switch to eight of 11 after the election. Schweikert said the Democrats are “moving money,” due to “bleeding in northern Arizona,” which has them “completely perplexed on what to do.” Biggs added that much of the money helping Democrats comes from outside Arizona; some of their ads say they are 100 percent funded by out-of-state sources, especially from California. Gosar said government shutdowns aren’t a bad thing and may need to happen to get rid of bad parts of spending bills, such as the one adding 87,000 new IRS agents.
Abe Hamadeh, who is running for Arizona attorney general, observed that the Trump-endorsed candidates are running well as a slate.
“Everywhere we go, people are shocked that we are working together,” he said.
He noted that most of them are “political outsiders.” He declared that “media is the greatest threat to democracy,” it’s “the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party and the ruling class.”
Blake Masters, who is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly, reminded the crowd about his debate with Kelly two weeks ago. “Kelly wishes he refused to debate,” alluding to Hobbs’ refusal to debate Lake. “He had an impossible task, his record sucked.” He compared Kelly to President Joe Biden, since Kelly votes with Biden 94 percent of the time. He continued, “People compared Biden to President Jimmy Carter, but that’s unfair to Carter.” He said, “Carter’s heart was in the right place trying. Biden and Kelly aren’t trying. … They’re trying to destroy our country on purpose.”
The event wrapped up with a pledge for the candidates, who came back onto the stage to take it. It said, “Tonight, we pledge to you, the citizens of Arizona, our commitment to integrity, accountability, and honor. We work for you. We answer to you. We believe in you. Our commitment to you is unconditional and unwavering. Our only fear is disappointing you. We pledge this to you in the name of God, Arizona, and country.”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
