Arizona 2024 Republican Primary Roundup – U.S. Senate Race

Arizona 2024 Republican Primary Roundup – U.S. Senate Race

By Matthew Holloway |

Arizona’s Republican Primary for the open seat in the U.S. Senate between former Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb quickly became a heated one.

While Lake faced criticism for referring to Lamb as a “total coward when it comes to election integrity” who “surrendered to the establishment” during the GOP Senate Forum, Lamb decried her as “a divider,” rather than a “uniter.” He stated, “It’s time she takes some personal responsibility for losing an election that she was supposed to win,” referring to her 2022 defeat by Gov. Katie Hobbs in a statement published to X.

Although the results are not finalized in many of the races, according to state and county officials, the unofficial results stand thusly as of noon on July 31 according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.

The Arizona Republican U.S. Senate Nominee is Kari Lake — According to current results, Lake defeated Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb 55.3%-39.3% by a difference of 98,644 votes.

In a post to X, Lake shared her acceptance of the nomination and wrote, “I want to thank everyone who put in their blood, sweat, & tears, knocking on doors, volunteering, & working for our campaign I love every one of you I want to thank Arizonans for entrusting me to be their voice. And I want to thank my family, I couldn’t do any of this without them.”

As of this report it doesn’t appear that Mark Lamb has issued a concession or any statement regarding the race.

Lake will face Democrat Congressman Ruben Gallego who won the Democratic nomination unopposed, garnering 424,088 votes.

According to Cook Political, the race for the seat of outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) leans Democrat. The RealClearPolling average as of this report shows Gallego leading by 3.4 points.

In a post to X, and during her nomination acceptance, Lake seemed to adopt a conciliatory tone toward Lamb writing, “[Sheriff Lamb] was never an opponent. He’s my friend. I truly appreciate everything he’s given to Arizona, and I know he’s not done fighting for it. He’s not done protecting it. He ran a great campaign, and I look forward to working together with him in the future.”

In her comments she thanked him and referred to him as her friend saying, “He ran a great campaign…that never hit below the belt, which is so rare in politics.” She complimented him saying, ”That is a great man. That is a man of great character.”

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.

Bolick Plans To Bring Her Passion For School Choice Back To The Arizona Senate

Bolick Plans To Bring Her Passion For School Choice Back To The Arizona Senate

By Staff Reporter |

A public servant and school choice warrior of the Arizona Legislature is key to Republicans’ control of the Senate chamber in the next two sessions.

State Senator Shawnna Bolick is hoping her constituents give her the green light to come back for her first full term in the Arizona Legislature after returning from a brief hiatus. Bolick was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in July 2023, when then-State Senator Steve Kaiser surprisingly resigned from his office. The Phoenix-area mother of two had previously served for two terms in the Arizona House of Representatives (2019-2023).

After leaving the legislature in January 2023, Bolick turned her eyes to other priorities. In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News, Senator Bolick revealed that she and her husband were preparing to sell their house in order to downsize, being that their two children are on the cusp of setting out on their own. Additionally, Bolick and her husband Clint (an Arizona Supreme Court Justice) had started the process of setting a heavy travel schedule over the next two years at the time of her exit from politics.

In fact, the Bolicks were abroad when the call came for Shawnna’s return to the Arizona Legislature, and unsurprising to most around her, she couldn’t resist the chance to return to public service. She told AZ Free News that she was in London when the opportunity first arose for a possible appointment to the state senate, which was created by Kaiser’s vacancy. Then, she was in Prague when the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors selected her for the position. That’s when Bolick’s travel wings were temporarily clipped thanks to her commitment to the challenging schedule of legislating and campaigning for re-election.

Senator Bolick told AZ Free News that she desired to return to the frontlines of this toxic political climate because “we are facing challenging times fighting Biden’s inflationary policies at the national level and Hobbs’ woke policies are driving a stake between families and a growing nanny government.” She added, “When I was recruited back, it was to help maintain our majority and save educational freedom.”

The Republican legislator shared that she has been most influenced by William Bennett as she grew up and started down her path of public service. At age nineteen, Bolick read Bennett’s book, “The Devaluing of America: The Fight for Our Culture and Children.” She said that the book “truly called out to me and shifted my interests from wanting to be a writer to restoring hope in our education system,” and that Bennett’s words “also challenged me to want to go to D.C. and work.”

Later, Bolick studied education policy in college and graduate school. She worked in a New York City public school in 1997. It was there she realized the necessity of more school choice opportunities for everyone – especially for low-income families.

Few people are more passionate about school choice and educational freedom in Arizona than Shawnna Bolick. She noted that “When families realize they have more than one educational option available, not only does it give them hope for a better future for their kids, but families feel empowered to try to make the right decision.”

She recounted a time in New York City, when she and some colleagues went to all five boroughs to recruit families trapped in their nearby public schools to their magnet institution. The public-school employees went to fast food restaurants and street corners to inform New Yorkers about the school’s existence. Thinking back about this experience, Bolick marvels at her coalition’s willingness to “spend their free time recruiting families to a public school because it was an option other than their locally zoned neighborhood public school.”

Bolick pointed out that many of the parents they met on these incursions could not afford to send their children to private school – even though they might have been working multiple jobs. These lessons and meetings spurred Bolick on to her life in public service out west, advancing the principles of educational opportunities for all.

Back in the Arizona Legislature this time around, Senator Bolick serves as the Vice Chairman of the Senate Finance and Commerce Committee and a member of the Education Committee.

When thinking back over her time in the legislature over the past two years, Bolick highlighted a ballot referral as her proudest achievement, saying, “I sponsored Proposition 313 to put child sex traffickers in prison for natural life. If the voters pass this proposition in November, it will send a powerful message that Arizona’s children are not for sale. With a wide open border, I hope voters agree it is time to protect our children from sexual exploitation through trafficking.”

If Bolick is given the honor of representing her district again in the state senate, she is already planning the next policies she would prioritize in office. She said she has “an expandable folder sitting on my desk at the Capitol [where she] started to keep newspaper articles, policy papers, but more importantly, constituents who contacted me to research and draft future legislation.” One of the legislation ideas she is working through is “to deal with the bullying in our schools.” Bolick acknowledged that “we need to get to the root of the problem because bullying continues to get worse, leading to kids missing weeks of school.”

Arizona Legislative District 2 is one of the most competitive in the state, with a 3.8% vote spread in the past nine statewide elections. It is very winnable for Republicans, however, as the party has emerged victorious in six out of those nine elections.

Bolick is competing against Josh Barnett in the Republican primary. The winner of that contest will earn the right to face off against Judy Schwiebert, who is running unopposed in the Democrat primary election.

AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.

Arizona 2024 Republican Primary Roundup – U.S. Senate Race

Lake Finally Declared Victor In Republican Gubernatorial Primary

By Terri Jo Neff |

On Wednesday, Kari Lake declared herself victorious in the Republican primary election for governor. On Thursday, the rest of the state followed.

Lake has nearly 19,800 more votes than her main challenger, Karrin Taylor Robson, as of Thursday night. She was one of several candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former Vice President Mike Pence had endorsed Taylor Robson, who held a commanding six point lead when the first results were announced around 8 p.m. Election Day. However, that margin continued to shrink as updated results were announced throughout the late evening hours.

With nearly 200,000 ballots across the state still needing to be tabulated as of Wednesday morning, election observers predicted Lake would likely receive the majority of the still-to-be-counted votes. They pointed to the Lake campaign’s well-executed “get out the vote” promotion for election day.

Those predictions held true throughout Wednesday as additional results were announced. Lake quickly pushed ahead of Taylor Robson and held a small lead all day.

Then on Thursday, Lake’s margin of victory continued to expand as the bulk of the previously unreported votes were announced. Shortly after 7 p.m., the Associated Press declared Lake the winner. Her margin of victory is holding at just less than three percent.

Lake was brutally critical of Taylor Robson during the primary but hopes her main challenger “will come over” to support Lake’s campaign against the Democratic nominee, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.

“We don’t maybe agree on every single thing. but I think we agree on the most important issues of the day,” Lake said of Taylor Robson. “And I believe that Karrin will come in because I know for a fact Karrin loves this state.”

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) released a statement late Thursday congratulating Lake on her victory. Ducey, who is co-chairman of the RGA, was not quoted in the statement. Instead, the comments came from RGA Vice-Chair Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa.

“From tackling Biden’s border crisis, to standing up for law enforcement, or keeping Arizona’s economy growing, Kari is ready to fight for Arizona,” according to Reynolds. “In contrast, Katie Hobbs is nothing more than a radical far-left politician whose open borders, anti-law enforcement views are completely out of step with mainstream Arizona.”

Lake and Taylor Robson led a field of five Republicans seeking to take on Hobbs. One of those candidates was former Congressman Matt Salmon, who withdrew from the race in late June, past the deadline for having his name removed from the ballot.

Salmon received more than 27,700 primary votes despite throwing his support to Taylor Robson. Nearly 86 percent of those voters would have had to follow Salmon over to the Taylor Robson camp in order hold off Lake.

The other Republican candidates were Scott David Neely, who received almost 23,000 votes, and Paola “Z” Tulliani-Zen, who received nearly 15,500 votes.