Politics


Arizona Republicans ‘Wandering in Wilderness’


The GOP’s infighting will lead to another defeat, warn experts. I BY DONALD T. CRITCHLOW


n late january, the arizona state gop elected Jeff DeWit, former state treasurer and Donald Trump ally, to replace the controversial Kelli Ward as state chair.


After the election, DeWit told Newsmax Magazine:


“I ran my campaign on a platform of unity and winning elections.” This will be accomplished, he said, by leaving aside


infi ghting and “focusing on basics like raising money, registering voters, and getting out the vote.” This means “overhauling the Republican Party of Ari-


zona into a well-oiled machine that will grow the party while holding true to our conservative principles.” DeWit won offi ce with 70% of the vote, after receiving endorsements from Ward, former Republican guber- natorial candidate Kari Lake, and, working behind the scenes, former President Trump. DeWit’s promise to unify the party and win future


elections follows the dismal 2022 midterms, in which the Republican slate for statewide offi ces suff ered a severe thumpin’.


Republicans won the offi ces of treasurer by a big mar-


gin and superintendent of public instruction by a hair. Republicans gained seats in the congressional caucus and the state legislature. While accusations of a “stolen election” continue to reverberate, election results showed that many moder- ate Republican voters — in the suburbs and rural areas — crossed over to vote Democrat. The election showed, as prominent political consul-


tant Chuck Warren observed, “You simply can’t win Arizona if you don’t have Trump/McCain/Ducey Repub- lican voters. Neither side of the party can win without the other.” Heading into 2024, many describe the political cli-


mate as “poisonous,” a description repeated time and again in interviews.


“I ran my campaign on a platform of unity and winning elections.” This will be accomplished by leaving aside infighting and “focusing on basics like raising money, registering voters, and getting out the vote.”


— Jeff DeWit 40 NEWSMAX | APRIL 2023


ILLUSTRATION/FSTOP/GETTY IMAGES / DEWIT/AP IMAGES


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