After several disappointing statewide cycles for the GOP in the Grand Canyon State, Arizona’s Republican Party was already in disarray — but the situation has become even more turbulent.
Former President Donald Trump canceled his Friday visit to Arizona, citing a scheduling conflict with a court appearance. The event was set to be one of the biggest fundraising events of the year for the state Republican Party, which is now in turmoil following the abrupt resignation on Wednesday of its chairman, Jeff DeWit, after the release of a March 2023 audio recording in which he offered Kari Lake what she viewed as a bribe in an effort to keep her out of the state’s U.S. Senate race.
“If these people back east, if these powerful people are going to try to bribe me out of politics, that tells me that I need to jump in with both feet. And that’s one of the reasons I ultimately decided to have to do this,” Lake said in an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show on Sirius XM on Thursday.
In a livestream on Wednesday night, Lake said she thought DeWit’s conduct on the recording was “disgusting” and said she felt DeWit “did a horrible job” as head of the Arizona GOP.
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DeWit’s departure shakes up the state’s Republican Party in a battleground state that will be front and center in the fight for control of the White House and the Senate in the November election. The departing Republican chairman, who is a former state treasurer and Trump administration official, also served as chief operating officer of both Trump’s 2016 and 2020 elections.
“DeWit was a much more capable fundraiser than likely anyone who is going to come out of the wings to take over the chairmanship,” said Paul Bentz, a Republican strategist based in Arizona. “Nobody is lining up that has any sort of real fundraising experience, and I think the Republican Party is going to struggle pretty significantly to raise money.”
Arizona Republicans have been struggling with money problems. In March 2023, the party had $50,000 in cash reserves, which isn’t much to fund expenses such as payroll, rent, and campaign operations. According to the state Republican Party’s Federal Election Commission filing covering the last fiscal year, its cash on hand had dropped to less than $15,000. In comparison, Arizona Republicans had $77,000 in cash reserves in 2018.
The Arizona GOP spent more than $300,000 on “legal consulting” fees last year, according to its federal filings, although it’s not clear what kind of legal work was paid for. During that time, those fees were paid to a law firm that had filed lawsuits looking to overturn then-President Trump’s defeat in Arizona, according to separate campaign and legal disclosures.
The money woes are far from the greatest challenge for the party. The previous chairwoman of the party, Kelli Ward, led Arizona Republicans in efforts to overturn the 2020 elections. Insurgent Republicans severed ties with more moderate members of their party, who were once led by the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Those candidates won nominations for governor, U.S. Senate, secretary of state, and attorney general last cycle but went on to lose to Democrats last November. The party continues to be split between a pro-Trump wing and an establishment wing that believes throwing its support behind the former president and his candidates in 2024 could cause the party to experience similar losses to those it experienced in 2020 and 2022.
For decades, the Republican Party dominated voter registration in the state. Now, 1.45 million Arizonans are independents or voters not affiliated with a political party recognized by the state, according to Arizona’s data. That gives independents a narrow lead over the state’s 1.44 million registered Republicans. The state also has roughly 1.26 million registered Democrats, 33,700 registered Libertarians, and 8,500 voters registered to the No Labels Party, recognized by the state in March of last year.
While no one is defending DeWit’s actions, many Republicans in Arizona and in Washington, D.C., are questioning why this recording was leaked so publicly.
“Why didn’t Lake just go to DeWit a year ago, tell him you have the recording, and ask him to resign behind the scenes? To put it out there, no one is covering themselves with glory here,” said a Republican consultant with ties to Arizona who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
“It makes this whole thing look like an absolute clown show, and I’m not certain why either major donors or the Senate committee, that have a lot of other ways to get to 51 seats, why this would instill a lot of confidence that Arizona is a good place to invest,” the person added.
When Lake ran for governor and lost her election last year, many mainstream Republicans in both Arizona and the nation’s capital distanced themselves from her as she continued to fight her loss in court despite no evidence of fraud. However, that has now changed. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, has endorsed her. While the Senate’s campaign arm has not yet endorsed Lake, the committee’s chairman, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), continues to praise her.
“Kari Lake is an outstanding candidate. In fact, I think she is one of the most talented candidates we have across the battlefields in the Senate races in this country,” Daines said in an interview with CBS News on Thursday. “Kari is not only a strong candidate, but Kari Lake is going to be the next senator from Arizona.”
“She pushed back on any attempts here to bribe her out of the race; she pushed back against that — to me, that’s a high standard of integrity. She’s doing the right thing, and we are glad to see Kari Lake in that race,” Daines added.
Many Republicans in the nation’s capital and in Arizona continue to have concerns about Lake’s practice of recording conversations. Lake is known to wear her own microphone often, including during interviews with reporters. She was wearing one this fall during a confrontation at the airport with Democratic contender Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
“I don’t know how anyone who ever has a meeting with Kari Lake can trust that she’s not taping them,” said Barrett Marson, an Arizona Republican strategist. “If she becomes a senator, will she tape all the private conversations with them? Does she inform people she’s taping them? Legally, she doesn’t have to. We are a one-party state in Arizona.”
“It is bad protocol to not tell people you are taping them in what otherwise should be a private conversation. How many times do you think she’s taped Donald Trump?” Marson questioned.
Others expressed anxiety about how these practices could translate on Capitol Hill. Washington, D.C., is a one-party consent district, so legally, her recordings would be above board.
“So much of what happens on the Hill is done behind closed doors and in private meetings. Can you imagine if she goes up there as a senator, records conversations and negotiations she’s not happy with, and then releases them to the public? This is dangerous,” said a Republican operative who asked not to be named. “Sure, we all know of lawmakers who leak information. That happens. But recording and altering conversations to fit your narrative is something I wouldn’t put past a potential Sen. Kari Lake.”
The race for Arizona’s Senate seat is heating up, but there’s still so much uncertainty. Lake will first need to defeat Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in a primary and then compete in what could be a three-way race with progressive Gallego, the likely Democratic nominee, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), an independent. Sinema has not said if she is running for a second term after leaving the Democratic Party late last year.
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While Lake has garnered enthusiastic support from the Republican base in the state, her biggest challenge is attracting Arizona’s sizable independent and moderate voters, who are thought to have contributed to her loss in the state. Some believe the release of this tape isn’t likely to win over voters who aren’t already in Lake’s corner.
“It just reiterates the negativity and nastiness of politics and the business-as-usual nature of it. I think it turns people off, and it has a suppressive effect,” Bentz said.
