On Tuesday, the Arizona Republican Party cast its votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.
“With a decisive victory, Arizonans delivered a clear mandate: return to common sense, security, prosperity and liberty,” said the Arizona GOP. “God bless America and let the Golden Age begin!”
Today, the @AZGOP and Chair @GinaSwoboda proudly cast their votes for President Trump and J.D. Vance!
With a decisive victory, Arizonans delivered a clear mandate: return to common sense, security, prosperity and liberty.
Trump won Arizona with over 52 percent of the vote (over 1.7 million votes) to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s 46.7 percent (over 1.5 million votes).
As a swing state once again this election, Arizona delivered 11 electoral votes for Republicans. The flip from the 2020 election marked a key victory in an overall decisive comeback for Trump.
The president-elect not only secured but swept all seven battleground states: Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Trump won 312 electoral votes over the 226 pulled by Harris.
Trump won with a greater margin than Joe Biden did in 2020. In the last presidential election, Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. Democrats flipped the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump matched Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton (both securing 306 electoral votes), meaning Trump outdid his 2016 performance in addition to his comeback from his 2020 election loss.
Trump’s victory didn’t translate to flipped congressional seats in Arizona. Incumbents held their seats within their parties. However, Republicans did expand their slim majority in the state legislature.
The open Senate seat vacated by independent Kyrsten Sinema was nabbed by Democratic candidate Ruben Gallego, who emerged victorious with 50 percent of the vote (an 80,600-vote lead) to Republican candidate Kari Lake’s 47 percent.
Lake’s loss didn’t take her out of the political arena, however. Lake secured a spot within Trump’s administration as the director of the federally funded Voice of America (VOA), an entity within the U.S. Agency for Global Media. VOA’s current director is Michael Abramowitz, formerly the president of the DC-based nonprofit Freedom House and longtime reporter with The Washington Post.
Incumbent Democratic Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Greg Stanton defended their seats from Republican challengers. Likewise, incumbent Republican Reps. David Schweikert, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Juan Ciscomani, and Paul Gosar defended their seats from Democratic challengers.
Although his seat was hotly contested, Ciscomani fended off a challenge from repeat Democratic candidate Kirsten Engel.
Abe Hamadeh, a Republican, secured the open District 8 seat left by Debbie Lesko. Unlike Lake, Hamadeh successfully navigated the loss of a statewide seat in 2022 to nab a higher seat this year.
In the state legislature, Arizona Republicans flipped a net total of three seats: one in the state senate, and three in the state house (another seat in the house flipped blue). Republicans expanded their majority from 16-14 to 17-13 in the senate and from 31-29 to 33-27 in the house.
The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) claimed in a statement on the legislative expansion that Arizona Republicans outperformed Democrats despite leftwing groups having spent over $9 million.
The inauguration is scheduled to take place on Jan. 20, 2025.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The nation may see the benefits of hydropower expansion in Arizona, depending on President Joe Biden’s approval of an Arizona congressman’s bill.
That bill, HR 1607 from Congressman David Schweikert, transfers National Forest System land near the Salt River in Arizona to the Bureau of Reclamation for the purpose of additional hydropower generation within the Salt River Federal Reclamation Project.
In remarks before the House last year, Schweikert explained that pumped storage hydroelectricity supplements energy resources in the state.
“It’s environmentally sound, it actually allows us to take care of something that is somewhat unique for us in the desert southwest, and that is the solar power we produce,” said Schweikert.
Pumped storage hydroelectricity pumps water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir during low energy demand. During high energy demand, the upper reservoir releases downhill into the lower reservoir through hydropower turbines to generate around 10-12 hours of reliable energy.
In a press release, Schweikert said the legislation proved Arizona’s standing as a state leading on energy production and efficiency.
“Once again, Arizona has proven to lead the charge to deliver innovation and make life more efficient for Arizonans at a time when our state’s economy and population continue to explode,” said Schweikert. “The near unanimous support for this legislation proves that America is ready to embrace long-term energy storage technologies to expand the supply of affordable and reliable energy for our communities.”
Schweikert thanked his Democratic colleague, Congressman Greg Stanton, for his assistance in getting the bill passed with bipartisan support.
“I’m incredibly thankful for my friend and colleague, Rep. Stanton, who’s been crucial to this process of embracing innovation, and I’m looking forward to seeing this technology benefit Arizona,” said Schweikert in the press release.
Stanton contributed a statement to Schweikert’s press release, adding that the pumped storage hydroelectric expansion couldn’t come at a better time.
“Not only do pumped storage projects provide greater flexibility and improve reliability in our energy grid, but they also cut utility costs for Arizona families and businesses,” said Stanton. “This critical legislation passed the House with an overwhelming majority last year, and today it’s on its way to becoming law.”
It was a bipartisan coalition of elected leaders that ensured the passage of Schweikert’s bill. Both the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources passed the legislation unanimously.
Schweikert introduced the bill last March. The House passed the bill last November, where it awaited Senate review for over a year. The Senate approved the bill on Tuesday. Arizona Senators Mark Kelly (D) and Kyrsten Sinema (I) introduced companion legislation in March, SB 739, which has advanced to Biden’s desk.
Kelly said in the press release that the expansion would not only strengthen the state’s energy grid but result in lower energy costs for Arizonans.
“Expanding pumped-storage hydropower in Arizona will strengthen our energy grid and lower energy costs for families,” said Kelly. “This is about using technology to make our energy more reliable and affordable.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The Democrat who formerly represented Arizona’s 29th legislative district, Martín Quezada, is now the lawyer for the major Muslim activist group, Council on American-Islamic Relations of Arizona (CAIR-AZ).
Quezada joined up with the chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy nonprofit over the weekend during their annual banquet. This career move follows his 2022 loss in the race to become Arizona’s treasurer against incumbent Kimberly Yee, and failure to achieve confirmation on a nomination from Governor Katie Hobbs.
From Arizona State Senator…
To running for Arizona State Treasurer…failed.
To nomination for Arizona Registrar of contractors under Hobbs…failed.
Quezada has a long history of sympathizing with Muslim causes.
In 2016, Quezada voted against the state’s first law prohibiting the state from initiating any Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
In a 2021 speech for CAIR-AZ, Quezada accused the Israel government of being a “Zionist state” enacting terrorism. Quezada also called for President Joe Biden to cease funding to the Israeli military.
“All of those billions of dollars, that is directing military aid that is going to occupation forces that are committing terrorism against the people of Palestine right now,” said Quezada at the time. “This — what we are witnessing — is oppression and occupation in action right now. This is murder in action right now.”
Last year, Quezada failed to be confirmed as the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (AROC) director due to his extensive support for the BSD movement. Quezada had purged a number of anti-Israel posts from his timeline in preparation for confirmation, notably one post in which he urged followers to listen to a speech from Michigan Rashida Tlaib demanding the freeing of Palestine.
His timeline has recommenced its criticisms against Israel, last week retweeting a viral post which read “‘Violence isn’t the answer’ unless you’re Israel, the American government, the police, military-trained vigilantes, or a for-profit healthcare system.”
In 2022, Quezada screened a documentary, “Boycott,” detailing various states’ efforts to overturn laws prohibiting BDS actions by the state.
That same year, during his campaign for the state treasurer’s seat, Quezada rejected claims that he was antisemitic.
“First of all, the antisemitism charge, flat-out wrong, and it’s ridiculous to even suggest that,” said Quezada. “I am not antisemitic, hard stop, full period right there.”
CAIR-AZ’s executive director, Azza Abuseif, was the state director for NextGen America in Arizona. Abuseif and her family came to the U.S. as refugees from Sudan. Abuseif also serves as a lead organizer for Women’s March Phoenix, and formerly served as board president for the Arizona Democracy Resource Center.
CAIR-AZ provides free legal services to those who believe they have been discriminated against for being Muslim, and they advocate for the inclusion and acceptance of the Islamic religion.
The nonprofit maintains a running list of Islamophoic individuals and organizations, including: Ann Coulter, ACT For America, the Anti-Defamation League, Bill Maher, Fox News, Glenn Beck, National Review, and Steven Crowder.
The national affiliate, CAIR, is an entity of the Muslim Brotherhood linked to activities engaged in by Hamas, the terrorist organization behind last year’s terrorist attack on Israel.
CAIR leaders celebrated the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ-01) offered his fellow Congress members a gift in his weekly speech on Thursday. The former Arizona State Treasurer and nation’s de facto accountant presented solutions to the problems “that directly contribute to rising costs and decreasing wages in America.” In a press release last week, Schweikert shared video of his speech in which he points out the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November reflected a 2.7 percent price increase from November of last year, indicating continuing inflation while wages continue to stagnate.
The Arizona Republican stressed the need for Congress to pursue a modernized immigration approach based on talent and merit in 2025, which promotes both productivity and wage growth while simultaneously offsetting declining birth rates and population decline.
Schweikert explained, “Here’s the reality: if the president is looking at you in the camera, and telling you [we have] the best economy ever—that’s not factual—but why don’t you feel it? It’s because much of America is poorer today than the day President Biden took office. If you live in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area—my home—if you don’t make 27 percent more today than the day President Biden took office, you are poorer.
Having someone telling you, ‘Oh, the economy is great,’ and yet, you’re having trouble paying for things… The reason we made this board, functionally, for you to maintain your purchasing power. If you are an average American in my district, these numbers are substantially higher because I am from a district with some of the highest inflation in America. If you are not making $1,115 more a month—because that’s what you have to be [making] from four years ago—your purchasing power… you’re poorer.
And I think that’s the reason that voters turned and said, ‘Okay, I see these Democrats running lots of ads saying crazy things,’ but yet, it turns out the voters are actually really smart. They would look at their checking account. They’d look at the cost of their kids’ clothes. They’d look at the grocery store and try to figure out why in the last week of the month they were losing their minds under stress.”
WATCH:
The congressman stressed the incoherence of current immigration policy, which invites foreign nationals into the U.S., educates them in our institutions, and then ships them back to their home countries rather than encouraging skilled legal immigrants to become citizens. In the release, Schweikert notes, “When wages go up, we actually take in more tax receipts and then begins the cascade event of changing society and the economy for the future and the better.”
Regarding reforming the tax code to favor research and development and immigration laws to favor talent-based immigration, he posited, “One of our economists is trying to model what would happen if you said we’re going to do expensing of research and development because we know that pops economic growth. But if you also did talent-based immigration at the same time, you may get a multiplier effect. This is thinking like an economist. This is what we have to do to get ourselves out of this hole.”
Republican Congressman-elect Abe Hamadeh shared an announcement on Monday that he will serve on two of the House of Representative’s most military-centric committees: the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. These appointments will essentially allow the retired Army Reserve Captain & Intelligence Officer to act on matters impacting service members at all stages of their careers—from new recruits to retired veterans.
In a post to X, Hamadeh wrote, “Proud to join my colleagues on the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Together with President Trump we will make our warfighters the most powerful force and treat our veterans with the respect they’ve earned.”
Proud to join my colleagues on the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Together with President Trump we will make our warfighters the most powerful force and treat our veterans with the respect they’ve earned. pic.twitter.com/CiEUm32ayM
According to Politico’s Connor O’Brien, alongside Hamadeh, the House GOP Steering Committee selected seven new members for the Armed Services Committee including Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Mark Messmer (R-IN), John McGuire (R-VA), Derek Schmidt (R-KS), Pat Harrigan (R-NC), and Jeff Crank (R-CO).
Per a person familiar, the House GOP Steering Committee selected 7 new members for the Armed Services Committee on Monday: Derrick Van Orden Mark Messmer John McGuire Derek Schmidt Pat Harrigan Abe Hamadeh Jeff Crank
Responding to the announcement, Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers wrote, “These are the TWO BEST COMMITTEES for Abe to do Arizona and our country GOOD!”
Two days before, Hamadeh congratulated President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Allen Grenell in a post to X writing, “Congratulations to @RichardGrenell, President Trump’s Envoy for Special Missions! Ric has been a loyal supporter and fighter for President Trump and will lead the America First agenda around the world.” The congressman’s new committee roles could result in significant overlap and coordination with Grenell.
Congratulations to @RichardGrenell, President Trump’s Envoy for Special Missions!
Ric has been a loyal supporter and fighter for President Trump and will lead the America First agenda around the world. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/nfUPvOiYJq
Hamadeh, the son of Syrian immigrants, commented on the recent collapse of Bashar Al Assad’s government advising that as the Trump administration considers multi-lateral responses to the successful rebellion, the Turkish government must step up.
He told Fox News, “As we evaluate Turkey’s recent airstrikes on Syrian Kurds and reports of Hamas operatives in Turkey, it’s clear that our alliances must be anchored in mutual respect and shared goals. For decades, Turkey has been a strategic partner, but hosting groups like Hamas without clear steps toward dismantling their operations undermines that relationship. Turkey must seize this opportunity to demonstrate it is committed to fighting terror, not enabling it.”
“Some people in the Syrian opposition say that they want to normalize relations with Israel. Now if that's the case. That is going to be a huge seismic shift to have a country that has been at war with Israel for so long normalize ties with Israel.“
In an interview with James T. Harris on 550 KFYI, he observed the potential for normalization of relations between the new Syria and Israel after decades of war. “Some people in the Syrian opposition say that they want to normalize relations with Israel. Now if that’s the case, that is going to be a huge seismic shift to have a country that has been at war with Israel for so long normalize ties with Israel,“ he told Harris.
The Fountain Hills Democratic Club’s feud with local Republicans on the topic of celebrating Christmas at the town community center continues to evolve. What started as an effort to have the center’s Christmas tree removed in May of this year has moved in a whole other direction. Answering the tree’s installation, which is now replete with festive Trump flags, the Democrats added a grotesque mask of a decapitated President Trump to a wreath. The Democratic Club’s members have also called for more sexualized displays to be added, in a holiday that emphasizes family and children, with sex toys, a “Drag queen tree, LGBTQ tree, Trans tree, Banned books tree,” and “All families matter tree.”
One commenter, Libby Settle, described the effort saying, “Fountain Hills Democrats are up to no good again. They want to groom children and desecrate the Ftn Hills Community Ctr with sex toys, LGBQTIA, Trans Christmas trees. Democrats are too extreme for our children.”
Posts in the Fountain Hills Democratic Club Facebook group included a picture of the wreath and a response to the Fountain Hills Town Council’s defense of the GOP Christmas tree as protected speech.
“The Republican Club put up a Trump tree and they are allowed because of the First Amendment,” said the Fountain Hills Democratic Club. “Well, Democrats have those same rights, so we added some free speech to our Wreath. UPDATE: We have removed this from the wreath. It was on display for only a few hours.”
The grotesque representation of Trump had discredited allegations against the President-elect crudely scrawled across the face such as “fraud,” “sexual assault,” “defamation,” “37 felonies,” and “obstruction of justice.” As reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, Fountain Hills Democratic Club Precinct Committee member for Saguaro, Dianne Price, suggested on the club’s Facebook group that the Democrats band together and decorate Christmas trees with lewd objects in 2025.
“I say next year we decorate a tree with sex toys,” said Price.
Jennifer Ferrell Heim, director of early childhood education at Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, suggested Democrats go beyond sex toys for decorations with “inclusive trees” of all kinds: sexualities, transgenderism, explicit books, and multiculturalism.
“Who wants to do these trees with me next year? Drag queen tree, LGBTQ tree, trans tree, banned books tree, All Families matter tree,” said Ferrell Heim.
For proper context: in May, a press release from Fountain Hills Councilman Allen Skillicorn explained that the Christmas tree is one of a setup of many from various organizations that all have themes. “The Fountain Hills Community Center invited community organizations to set up Christmas trees in the lobby of the community center. An animal rescue has a rescue theme, the Maricopa Sheriff’s Department has a tree with sheriff badges, the Town’s Public Works Staff has a tree with hard hats, and the Fountain Hills Republican Club has Trump flags celebrating the 45th & 47th President of the U.S.A. on their tree.”
Responding to the outcry from the Fountain Hills Democrats, Skillicorn said in a statement, “While I defend the Fountain Hills Democratic Club’s free speech, I am shocked by the inappropriate and out of touch behavior by FH Dem Club members. The Grinch appears to reside in their hearts. The people of Arizona and Fountain Hills have rejected their sex toy ideology and devotion to confusing children. I defend their right to not believe in Christianity and the Holiday of Christ’s birth, but does that mean they should mock the faith of others? I invite the FH Dems to enjoy some eggnog and twinkly lights, but leave the Bah Humbug at home, behind closed doors.”
Since the addition of the Trump mask to the wreath, and its subsequent removal by the group, the display appears to have caused significant division among the Fountain Hills Democrats with some calling it “beyond rude.” Another said the “display shows petty retaliation.” Another commenter added, “Just because something is protected by the First Amendment, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s appropriate.”
The Fountain Hills Democratic Club said in a comment: “We have removed the offensive mask out of respect for all Democrats. A statement was made, if only for a few hours.”
