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Diegel had hoped his state party, after seeing the insurgency on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, would turn Donald Trump’s course.
But it was not.
“Arizona Republicans have sided with Donald Trump,” said Diegel, a married father of two and Air Force veteran. “This has to stop. These people don’t represent what it means to be conservative in Arizona and I finally had to say, ‘No, I don’t want to be associated with the Arizona Republican Party.'”
Diegel is one of more than 9,292 Republicans who have asked to change their party registration from Republican to Independent, Democrat or Libertarian since the Capitol Riot, according to figures compiled by the Arizona Secretary of State’s office from January 6 to January 24. a small percentage of the GOP’s overall record in Arizona, are a glimpse of how voters are responding to the Republican Civil War unfolding in the Swing State.
“The America First program is alive and well,” said state GOP Chairman Kelli Ward in a video released Monday. “Are we going to continue to be an America First Arizona or are we going back to the dark days before Donald Trump? Lucky for us, we are blessed, we are moving forward as an American State First.”
“I can’t wait to keep Arizona great and make America great again!” she concludes.
‘However, Trump rolls, this is how the Republican Party is going to roll’
These electoral losses didn’t matter much to Barbara Wyllie and Corky Haynes, who called themselves the “Grassroot Grandmas”. Lifetime Arizona Republicans, they were among more than 1,000 Arizona Republican Party members in Phoenix for the State Party meeting on Saturday.
“However, Trump rolls, that’s the way the Republican Party is going to roll. It’s the Republican Trump,” Wyllie said. “And the RINOs [Republican In Name Only] will fall. ”
Ducey was blamed for imposing emergency rules as Covid-19 took over Arizona, saying these emergency orders to contain the virus violated the Constitution and amounted to the governor’s passage of ” dictatorial powers ”.
McCain, who endorsed Biden during the election, has been blamed for supporting “leftist causes” and not supporting Trump.
Flake was convicted of also supporting Biden in the election.
Ducey’s political director Sara Mueller has dismissed the power of the state party’s decision to censor the sitting governor.
“These resolutions are of no consequence, and the people who support them have lost what little moral authority they once had,” Mueller said.
Outside of the AZ GOP meeting, Wyllie said she voted for the late Senator John McCain, but now regrets it.
The “Grassroot Grandmas” proudly showed CNN a photo they took with Trump during his tenure. “We are here to augment the Republican Party by making it a MAGA party,” Haynes said while wearing a “Trump” shirt.
When asked exactly how following Trump, after his loss to Arizona, would increase GOP membership, Wyllie said, “I honestly don’t know. But I’ll be with him wherever he goes, no matter what. ” Women then swung into conspiratorial lies that Trump and Democratic senators failed to win their seats, despite damning facts against their illegitimate claims.
“I am shocked that self-proclaimed and long-time Conservatives have abandoned their self-proclaimed principles of loyalty to one person, Donald Trump,” said Kirk Adams, former Arizona Speaker and former adviser to Ducey. “Will he see more in the months to come? Or will this party go down the loyalty den? Maybe this fever will break. But if it doesn’t, that means bad news for Republicans seeking employment in this state. “
Ward appeared publicly indifferent to the warnings from the moderates, as she spoke to Arizona Republicans gathered at Dream City Church in Phoenix. The venue was closed to almost all reporters except for a few hand-picked outlets, including CNN.
Ward, who has embraced far-right conspiracies over the legitimacy of Arizona election results, ended his speech ahead of his re-election vote with, “Make America Great Again!” She then presented a recorded audio message from Trump, in which the former president told members, “I give him my full and complete approval.”
Ward beat his challenger by three points in two rounds of voting.
‘I don’t want to be part of the dumpster fire’
Meanwhile, establishment Republicans in Arizona are moving away from the official party apparatus, in hopes of delegitimizing the party and trying to bypass it for future elections.
Adams, the well-known former Arizona representative, said Ward and the State Party “fed the public a steady diet of QAnon-ic conspiracies.” For the first time in 20 years, Adams said he would not be an elected member of the state’s Republican Party constituency committee.
“I don’t want to be part of the dumpster fire,” he said.
Several Arizona Republicans claim that the political battle against Ward-led Republicans will take place at the precinct level, working at the grassroots level and ending up blocking and attacking at the party level. It’s unglamorous work, but it is urgent, emphasizes Glenn Hamer, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party and now CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.
Referring to the more than 9,200 Republicans who have left the party since January 6, Hamer fears the political outcome for the Republicans.
“This party is run by a fringe, essentially calling for a purge,” Hamer said. “It’s a party that has lost the White House, two Senate races, and shows no interest in bringing people together and certainly no interest in expanding the Republican base. It has become the circular firing squad.”
“If ignored, the condition will turn from purple to blue fairly quickly,” he added.
It’s a nightmare scenario for some of those who represent the future of the Arizona Republican Party. In many ways, Arizona State Senator TJ Shope embodies a potential future Republican party “big-tent” for the swing state. Raised in rural Arizona, Shope is the son of a Mexican-born mother and owner of a local grocery chain. The 35-year-old wears an Arizona belt buckle, western hat and boots, in a bid to enlarge the tent for the next generation of Republicans.
“I’m wearing a different hat than the horned guy,” Shope joked, referring to the Arizona Capitol rioter who was widely photographed, then arrested, for storming the Capitol wearing a headdress. of animal with horns.
“We have to turn the page,” Shope said. “If the focus continues to be on 2020, then we’re probably not going to win in 2022. And then we’ll probably end up more like Colorado than we do for states like Ohio or Florida. people have to do this. realize that it only took a cycle or two for Colorado to go from a reliable Republican state to a reliable Democratic state, and it can happen anywhere. “
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