Arizona Republicans blame Turning Point, election fraud claims for losses

Arizona Republicans blamed election denial, Turning Point Action and their own candidates Wednesday as Democrats seemed to be headed for a historic sweep of every top state office and control of the Legislature for the first time since 1966.

Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin, a Republican, used a Wednesday board meeting to blame members of his own party who have promoted claims of election fraud.

“My fellow Republicans need to stop lying about allegations and conspiracy theories about election fraud,” Galvin said. “It wasn’t just swing voters, it was Republican voters who are just sick and tired of this.”

He said the party ignored major issues like corruption, high grocery prices, “a senseless war and tariffs.”

Gina Swoboda, former chair of the Arizona Republican Party, pointed to Turning Point Action and the candidates the group backed.

“I don’t know how many times the voters of Arizona have to say no. No, we do not want Turning Point,” Swoboda said on Swoboda said during KTAR News 92.3 FM’s election special Wednesday.

Turning Point Action endorsed Republicans for every statewide office on Arizona’s ballot. Andy Biggs lost the governor’s race, as did the group’s candidates for attorney general and secretary of state. Meanwhile, its candidates for treasurer, schools superintendent, Corporation Commission and state Senate trailed in unofficial results Wednesday. Endorsed state Senate candidates in swing districts, including Shawnna Bolick, Carine Werner and T.J. Shope, were also behind.

Swoboda said the party’s elected officials have been afraid to break ranks with the group and the Arizona Freedom Caucus.

“You have to win an election in order to govern,” she said. “If you believe in your platform and your policy, you have to put people forward that have a path to victory.”

Swoboda also cautioned Senate Republicans against choosing Freedom Caucus leader Jake Hoffman, who is poised to win reelection, as their new minority leader.

“They are basically saying, ‘I don’t care what you just told us,'” she said.

Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, widow of the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, acknowledged the losses in a statement posted on X Wednesday, saying races Republicans once won by double digits come down to the thinnest of margins.

“In some cases, (races) flip entirely,” said Kirk.

She urged conservatives not to turn on one another.

“The biggest mistake conservatives can make right now would be to allow this moment to become another exercise in finger-pointing, in-fighting or trying to secure their own political preservation,” Kirk wrote.

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