Matt Salmon, GOP gubernatorial candidate, again calls for Sen. Wendy Rogers to resign

PHOENIX – Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon is again calling for state Sen. Wendy Rogers to resign, this time over her controversial response to the mass shooting in Buffalo.

“I think that this conspiracy theory she has, that the federal government is behind the latest horrible attack, that it was a red flag issue, it’s completely bogus,” Salmon told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Thursday.

“And I reject that and I reject her, and I believe that she should step aside.”

Authorities say Saturday’s shooting at a western New York grocery store was racially motivated. The 18-year-old suspect is accused of targeting the 10 victims who were killed, all Black, because of the color of their skin.

The GOP-led Arizona Senate voted earlier this week to open an ethics investigation into Rogers, a Republican, for her post on social media site Gab that said, “Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo.”

After Monday’s 24-3 vote, Rogers issued a statement denouncing the shooting. She said her “comment was taken completely out of context and became a false narrative” but failed to present an alternate explanation for what she meant.

Rogers’ latest controversy comes less than three months after her Senate colleagues voted March 1 to censure her for “conduct unbecoming of a senator” over her statements promoting violence against political opponents.

“The last time around when she said that anybody that disagreed with her, she was going to come after them and that that the people that she disagreed with should be hung on the gallows, I called on her to resign at that time,” Salmon said.

“And that’s the strongest thing that I can possibly say, and I reiterate that again now.”

Rogers has endorsed one of Salmon’s opponents, Kari Lake, in the Republican primary for governor. Salmon has been running third in recent polling behind Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson.

🚨ENDORSEMENT ALERT:
Senator Wendy Rogers is a proven fighter—whether it was 20 years in the Air Force or going against the woke political left and their media activists constantly trying to take her down. I cannot wait to fight alongside her for the America First agenda! pic.twitter.com/SmTx00jhRB

— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@KariLake) January 20, 2022

“I think it’s sad that … one of them helped her [Rogers] get elected and is proud of that and says that all the time,” Salmon said. “The other one pals around with her all the time and takes her pictures with her and has endorsed her and has been endorsed by her.

“She has her freedom of speech to say anything she wants, but the fact is also that we need people at the helm in this state that not only love freedom, but are not out there saying belligerent things.”

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