SerpApi.Org
President Donald Trump greeted Arizona’s primary results with an unhinged morning Truth Social blast.
“MAGA CANDIDATES WON EVERYTHING LAST NIGHT IN ARIZONA, A COMPLETE SWEEP!!! I WON ARIZONA 18 MONTHS AGO. THE DUMOCRATS ARE DUMBFOUNDED. AFTER DECADES, ARIZONA IS BECOMING A REPUBLICAN STATE. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he posted at 9:30 a.m., seemingly unaware, or unbothered, that these were Republican primary wins, not a general election sweep against Democrats.
The rant came after Arizona Republicans nominated a cast of characters that would make even seasoned election watchers do a double-take. Rep. Andy Biggs, a Trump-backed Freedom Caucus rabble-rouser who voted against certifying the 2020 election, easily won the gubernatorial primary and will now face Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. Biggs was also backed by the political wing of the conservative powerhouse Turning Point USA.
Biggs wasn’t even the most radical election denier to carry a primary. That honor went to Alexander Kolodin, a lawyer who helped Sidney Powell with her notorious “kraken” lawsuits challenging the 2020 and 2022 results and who has remained a Stop the Steal celebrity ever since.
Kolodin, who has faced sanctions from the state bar over his conduct around the 2020 election, won the GOP nomination for secretary of state, Arizona’s top elections official, defeating former state party chair Gina Swoboda and setting up a fall matchup against Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes.
Trump’s influence was the dominant storyline of the night, with his endorsed candidates powering through contests up and down the ballot.
Former NFL kicker Jay Feely, who received Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” in the campaign’s final stretch, won the GOP primary in the competitive 1st congressional district, while former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb won the primary in the deep-red 5th District that Biggs is vacating.
Hobbs wasted no time going after her new opponent. Her campaign said Biggs “has spent his career selling out Arizona families for billionaires, special interests, and even convicted sex offenders,” adding that “the more Arizonans learn about Biggs, the more they’ll realize he’s one big problem they can’t afford.”
Arizona is a former Republican fortress that gave America Barry Goldwater and John McCain, voted GOP in every presidential election from 1952 to 1992, and remained reliably red for most of the next quarter-century.
Republicans still control the state legislature and most of its House seats, even as Democrats have captured the governorship and both Senate seats, turning the state into a genuine battleground. NPR reported that although Trump carried Arizona in 2024, his popularity in the state has since dwindled over his handling of the economy, a wrinkle that could complicate his hand-picked candidates’ odds in November even after Tuesday’s blowout primary results.
In 2024, Trump won Arizona as part of a clean sweep of every swing state in the election against Kamala Harris, alongside Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada, states typically won by slim margins and crucial to reaching the 270 electoral votes needed for the presidency.
