PHOENIX (AP) – Arizona Republicans on Saturday chose former state treasurer and Donald Trump aide Jeff DeWitt to be the party’s next chairman, returning a familiar face to the relationship around the fractured party after its worst election in decades.
DeWitt replaces Kelly Ward, a Trump ally who helped the former president in his bid to overturn his 2020 election loss and who claimed the election results were rigged. She skipped last year’s primary by openly promoting electoral opponents who were defeated in November’s general election.
“I’ll make you and we’ll be one,” DeWitt said after the win. “And we’re going to go back to winning the elections and winning the Democrats.”
DeWit was supported by Cary Lake, who won the governor’s race but became a rock star on the right; Mark Finch, the defeated Secretary of State; and retired General Michael Flynn. Leake said shortly before the vote that Trump had backed DeWitt at the last minute, though the former president had not said anything on his social media accounts.
He won with 70% of the vote over several candidates, including Steve Daniels, who was the choice of the party’s staunch advocates for dismantling the electoral system. After helping lead protests against face masks and critical race theory, Daniels founded the Arizona Veterans Party, which requires all voting to be held in person on the same day, with ballots counted by hand.
During Ward’s four-year tenure, the GOP lost three Senate races and the state’s three top offices — governor, secretary of state and attorney general. In recent weeks, she has faced criticism over the party’s spending, including in November, an expensive election night that Republicans hoped would be a victory party before GOP candidates fell short.
DeWitt He was elected state treasurer in 2014 and resigned shortly before the end of his term in 2018, when he was confirmed as NASA’s chief financial officer under Trump. In the year He managed Trump’s Arizona campaign in 2016 and was the chief campaign officer for Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Meanwhile, Arizona Democrats chose Yolanda Bejarano, the top national official for the Communications Workers Union of America, as their party chairwoman in the first Democratic presidential election in 12 years. Bejarano was supported by most of the state’s elected Democrats, but newly elected Governor Katie Hobbs endorsed Steve Gallardo, the only Democrat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
Outgoing Democratic Chairwoman Raquel Teran has declined to run for another term, saying she wants to focus on her role as state Senate minority leader. She said she is looking to run for the safe Democratic U.S. House seat being vacated by Senate candidate Ruben Gallego on Friday.
The 2024 election involves several races with national implications. Arizona could be a battleground state in the presidential race, with independent Sen. Kirsten Sinema’s seat up for grabs. Sinema, a former Democrat who has alienated most of the party, has not said she will seek a second term, making for a rare three-way race.