Arizona Republicans voted on Saturday to censure Cindy McCain and two other prominent party members who have crossed Donald Trump.
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The censures of the widow of senator and former presidential candidate John McCain, former senator Jeff Flake and Governor Doug Ducey are symbolic. But they show the party’s foot soldiers are focused on enforcing loyalty to Trump, even in the wake of an election that saw Arizona, a state with staunchly Republican roots, fall to the Democratic victor, Joe Biden.
Party activists also reelected controversial chairwoman Kelli Ward, who has been one of Trump’s most unflinching supporters and among the most prolific promoters of his baseless allegations of election fraud. From his retirement in Florida, Trump endorsed her.
The Arizona GOP’s combative focus has delighted Trump supporters and worried Republican insiders who have watched the party lose ground. A growing electorate of Latinos and newcomers bringing more liberal politics have hurt the state GOP.
“This is a time for choosing for Republicans,” said Kirk Adams, a former state House speaker and chief of staff to Ducey. “Are we going to be the conservative party? Or is this a party … that’s loyal to a single person?”
It’s a question officials and activists are facing across the US following Trump’s defeat, and particularly after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on 6 January.
Nowhere is the question more acute than Arizona. Ward relentlessly – but unsuccessfully – sued to overturn the election results. The party has used its social media accounts to urge followers to fight and perhaps even die in support of Trump. Two of the state’s four Republican congressmen are accused of playing a role in organizing the 6 January Washington rally that turned violent.
Republicans have been ejected from the state’s highest offices. Biden was just the second Democrat in more than five decades to win Arizona. Victories in 2018 and 2020 gave Democrats both US Senate seats for the first time in nearly 70 years.
Ward, a physician and former state legislator who lost two primaries for Senate, defeated three challengers to win a second term. She acknowledged “disappointment at the top of the ticket” but said she and many other Republicans still question victories for Biden and Senator Mark Kelly. Judges have rejected eight lawsuits challenging Arizona’s election results.
Ward pointed to successes down the ballot and said she was a “Trump Republican” who will “always put America first, who believes in faith, family and freedom.” The way forward for the GOP, she said, is keeping Trump’s 74 million voters engaged. More than 81 million voted for Biden.
“Yes, I will be radical about those things because those are the things that keep this country great,” Ward said. “The people who are complaining are the people who actually put us in this spot where we are in Arizona, people who have been mamby pamby [sic], lie down and allow the Democrats to walk all over them.”
The censures target prominent Republicans. Cindy McCain endorsed Biden following years of attacks by Trump on her husband. After the censure, she wrote on Twitter: “I’ll wear this as a badge of honor.”
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Flake tweeted a photo with McCain and Ducey at Biden’s inauguration and wrote: “Good company.”
Flake, who declined to run for reelection in 2018 and endorsed Biden, wrote: “If condoning the president’s behavior is required to stay in the party’s good graces, I’m just fine being on the outs.”
Ducey is being targeted for restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19. He also signed the certification of Biden’s victory.
“These resolutions are of no consequence whatsoever and the people behind them have lost whatever little moral authority they may have once had,” said Sara Mueller, Ducey’s political director.
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