Arizona: Election Denial in Races for Election Administration Positions

View the entire Election Denial in Races for Election Administration Positions series

Below, we compile quotes from campaigns’ ads, websites, social media posts, and statements reported in the media that illustrate endorsement or opposition to election denial — claims that the process or result of the last presidential election was illegitimate. Each of the candidates is running for an office that will play a role in administering future elections in Arizona. Information about the financing of these campaigns and those in other battleground states can be found here.

Governor

Steve Gaynor (withdrew)

Busi­ness owner Steve Gaynor (R) appeared at a Trump rally in the summer of 2021 where elec­tion denial was raised by several speak­ers. Gaynor said, “This has to be fixed. This can’t happen again — there are a million Repub­lic­ans in our state who believe the elec­tion was rigged.” His campaign ran a Face­book ad in support of Arizona legis­lat­ors’ partisan audit.

Katie Hobbs (won primary)

As the current Arizona secretary of state, gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs (D) has defended the way the 2020 election was conducted. In January, she tweeted that Trump “spewed lies about the 2020 election and encouraged the ongoing and dangerous attacks on our democracy," predicting that her opponent, Kari Lake, “will reject the will of the people in future elections.” In an email to supporters, the Hobbs campaign describes her opposition to “sham audits," “misinformation,” and “anti-democratic extremism” and warns that “proponents of the Big Lie are running to oversee election results in statewide and local offices.”

Kari Lake (won primary)

Former TV news anchor Kari Lake (R) has repeatedly claimed the 2020 elec­­­tion was stolen and has sued to ban the voting machines the state uses, alleging they are unre­li­­­able. Lake has said she would not have certi­fied the 2020 result. In an inter­­­­view featured on her campaign website, Lake said the sham ballot review in Arizona revealed evid­­­­ence of fraud­u­lent votes, conclud­ing, “Joe Biden did not win.” She has said the lead­ing Demo­cratic candid­ate, Secret­ary of State Katie Hobbs, should be imprisoned for how she ran the 2020 elec­­­tion. A campaign TV ad has Lake talk­ing about the “rigged elec­­­tion of 2020” over darkened foot­age of people using ballot drop boxes, taken from an elec­­­tion fraud conspir­acy docu­­­ment­ary by conser­­­vat­ive comment­ator Dinesh D’Souza. In July 2022, Lake pree­mpt­ively cast doubt on the outcome of the upcom­ing Arizona primary, telling support­ers that her top oppon­ent “might be trying to set the stage for another steal.” At a campaign stop less than two weeks before the primary, Lake claimed multiple times that fraud was taking place in this year’s election, saying she was already “detecting some stealing going on.”

Aaron Lieberman (suspended campaign)

In September 2021, former State Rep. Aaron Lieberman’s (D) campaign released a statement calling the Maricopa ballot review a “sham” and saying, “The election was free, fair, and was executed with integrity. There was no significant voter fraud and President Biden was the clear winner. . . . Challenging the outcome of elections without real evidence must not become our new normal.”

Marco López (lost primary)

The campaign of former Nogales Mayor Marco López (D) sent an email to supporters describing the Arizona partisan review as “a shameful ‘election audit’ to overturn President Biden’s victory.” In January, he tweeted that the review was “a waste of our taxpayer money, [and] it perpetuated a violence-inducing lie.” His campaign Facebook account posted, “We can’t allow an anti-democratic extremist like Kari Lake to become our next governor.”

Scott Neely (lost primary)

On his campaign website, Scott Neely (R) says of the 2020 election: “There is no denying that compounded errors and omissions by election officials and careless, shoddy election practices and procedures have caused the problem.” In May 2022, Neely posted content on his Facebook page about “2000 Mules,” a movie claim­ing large numbers of people put false ballots in drop boxes, saying: “200 Arizona mules gave Biden a 10,457 vote fake election lead in Arizona.” He also encouraged people to watch the movie to “find out that Donald J. Trump should still be president and we allowed them to steal an election to install a bumbling idiot puppet into the white house.”

Secretary of State

Reginald Bolding (lost primary)

State Rep. Regin­ald Bold­ing (D) is campaign­ing on the dangers of elec­­tion deniers taking office. A campaign ad on Face­­book says, “if we don’t win, then Donald Trump’s hand­picked candid­ate will have control of our elec­­tions. The fate of our demo­cracy is on the line right now.” In an inter­­view, Bold­ing said of Repub­­lic­ans’ focus on secret­ary of state races, “They’re going to try to do in 2024 what they could­n’t do in 2020.” The Bold­ing campaign sent an email to support­ers warn­ing that if he loses, “Trump is going to have the future of Arizona elec­tions in the palm of his hand,” and claim­ing that another secret­ary of state candid­ate, Mark Finchem, “is set on dismant­ling, disrupt­ing, and destroy­ing our demo­cracy.” Another email claimed Finchem “had a crit­ical role in Trump’s attempt to under­mine the results of the 2020 Pres­id­en­tial Elec­tion” and is running to “under­mine the will of Arizona voters.”

Shawnna Bolick (lost primary)

Arizona State Rep. Shawnna Bolick (R) is the author of a Decem­ber 2020 resol­u­­tion call­ing for Congress to award Arizon­a’s elect­ors to Trump and block the certi­fic­a­­tion of the elec­­tion result. In May 2021, she sponsored a bill that would allow the state legis­lature to over­­ride the popu­lar vote and revoke the secret­ary of state’s certi­fic­a­­tion. In a campaign video, Bolick implies that Arizona elec­­tion offi­­cials have been “chan­­ging the rules to favor their preferred polit­ical party.” In May 2022 at a presentation in the state senate from the producers of “2000 Mules,” a movie claim­ing large numbers of people put false ballots in drop boxes, Bolick said, “we do know the election officials colluded with the judiciary in 2020.” Her campaign has sent emails to support­ers predict­ing that if her proposed reforms are not enacted, “the manip­u­la­­tion of our elec­­tions from the Left will continue and our voices will be silenced.”

Mark Finchem (won primary)

State Rep. Mark Finchem (R) emailed support­ers in May saying, “Demo­crats stole the elec­tion.” The email says that “the sanc­tity of the vote will be determ­ined 100% by who is elec­ted for Secret­ary of State. . . . When elec­tions belong to the govern­ment, you get dictat­ors in power for 30 years and rigged elec­tions.” Finchem proclaimed in Janu­ary that “Donald Trump won,” and called for “decer­ti­fy­ing” the result in Arizona. In Febru­ary, Finchem emailed support­ers that he had filed a bill in the state house to “decer­tify three 2020 county elec­tions: Mari­copa, Pima, and Yuma.” A campaign ad on Face­book asks for support to “defeat the corrupt Adrian Fontes who is respons­ible for the corrupt Mari­copa elec­tion of 2020.” Finchem previ­ously sponsored a bill that would allow the legis­lature to “accept or reject” elec­tion results. He has touted a claim that there were “34,000 or 35,000 ficti­­tious voters … inser­­ted” into vote totals in Pima County.

Adrian Fontes (won primary)

In June 2022, Mari­copa County Recorder Adrian Fontes (D) tweeted: “The Big Lie is a crim­inal conspir­acy.” In March 2022, in response to a lawsuit filed by two Arizona Repub­lic­ans seek­ing an audit of the elec­tion for chair of the state Repub­lican Party, Fontes tweeted: “The damage these big lie promoters are doing to our demo­cracy is seri­ous busi­ness. It’s like they are trying to cancel an elec­tion without any account­ab­il­ity for their own elec­tions.” A campaign ad on Facebook says: “We can’t let Trump loyalists steal our fair elections.” In a campaign TV ad, Fontes argues: “My opponent is a dangerous extremist who . . . would overturn legitimate election results.”

Beau Lane (lost primary)

A campaign TV ad shows Beau Lane (R) talking about “a lack of faith in elections” and the need to “secure our elections.” In February 2022, Lane tweeted: “Career politicians failed to secure our elections. I’m running to ensure the mess of 2020 doesn’t ever happen again.”

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors

Gail Golec (lost primary)

In July 2022, Gail Golec (R) tweeted: “We know that the [2020] election was stolen!” In August, Golec urged voters to steal the felt-tip pens provided at polling locations, falsely claiming the pens “cause overvotes” and that “the cheat is on.”

Doug Little (lost primary)

On his campaign website, Doug Little (R), a former member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, writes: “We saw the abuses of the election system in 2020 in many states, including Arizona. . . . While we cannot turn back the clock on the 2020 election, we must do everything possible to prevent it from ever happening again.”

Thayer Verschoor (lost primary)

Thayer Verschoor (R) submitted a statement to a voter guide saying, “I think President Donald Trump won the election in 2020 and I don’t want the same broken elections to happen in again in Maricopa.” He has reportedly said Trump “is the rightful president.”