XPost: alt.politics.elections, talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: alt.politics.trump   
   From: so.long.liz.cheney@washpost.com   
      
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   > Trump terrifies Democrats.   
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   Rusty Bowers, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House who   
   delivered gripping testimony earlier this summer to the House   
   committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, lost his bid   
   for a state Senate seat Tuesday to a candidate backed by former   
   President Donald Trump, NBC News projected.   
      
   Armed with Trump's endorsement, former state Sen. David   
   Farnsworth held a lead of more than 20 points over Bowers in   
   their bid for Arizona's 10th District as of 1:15 a.m. ET.   
      
   Bowers, who testified to the committee of the effort by Trump   
   and his allies to get him to overturn the 2020 election in his   
   state, told NBC News last month it would be difficult for him to   
   pull off a victory in his state Senate race.   
      
   "It’s so hostile," Bowers said then of the political environment   
   in a phone interview, noting the overwhelming pro-Trump   
   preference of his state Senate district, Arizona’s 10th. "If I   
   pull this off, it’s going to be a miracle."   
      
   Just weeks after Bowers' testimony, the Arizona Republican Party   
   censured him, saying he "has demonstrated he is unfit to serve   
   the platform of the Republican Party of Arizona and the will of   
   the voter of the Republican Party in Arizona" and called on   
   voters "to expel him permanently from office."   
      
   It is highly unusual for a state party to make such a   
   proclamation ahead of a contested primary.   
      
   Trump attacked Bowers on Monday on his Truth Social platform,   
   writing: "Remember Arizona, your so-called 'Speaker,' Rusty (an   
   appropriate name because he is Rusty, just like steel gets rusty   
   and weak) Bowers, is absolutely terrible."   
      
   He called on Arizonans to "Vote him out!"   
      
   Bowers, who has served a combined 17 years between Arizona’s   
   state House and Senate, received the John F. Kennedy Profile in   
   Courage Award this year for his handling of the post-election   
   period. His race served as the first and possibly only test this   
   cycle of whether a Republican can publicly cross Trump before   
   the Jan. 6 panel and still win a GOP primary — one that took   
   place while Bowers’ testimony was still fresh in voters’ minds.   
      
   Weeks ago, the conservative legislator told the committee he   
   knew Trump and his allies were pursuing an unconstitutional   
   effort in trying to have him invalidate the 2020 election in his   
   state, which President Joe Biden narrowly carried.   
      
   "It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely   
   inspired, that this is my most basic foundational belief,"   
   Bowers, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day   
   Saints, told the committee. "And so for me to do that because   
   somebody just asked me to, is foreign to my very being; I will   
   not do it."   
      
   Speaking with NBC News, Bowers described the response to his   
   testimony in his district as mixed.   
      
   "Among my friends and people that I know personally in the   
   district, it’s been good," he said. "But generally, it is not   
   seen as good. It’s been: 'There you go. The traitor.'"   
      
   He also said he disagreed with people who tell him his decision   
   to testify took courage.   
      
   "I don’t see me having some courageous Don Quixote-esque   
   [moment]. Maybe that’s it, but certainly not a Joan of Arc,"   
   Bowers said. "But I did what I had to do. I knew that there   
   might be consequences, and in some cases, I knew that it would   
   end relationships. But I have to tell the truth. That’s it.   
   Beyond that, nothing else."   
      
   Soon after Bowers’ public testimony, Trump offered a full-   
   throated endorsement of Farnsworth.   
      
   Bowers described Farnsworth as a back-bencher who "did exactly   
   zero" while previously serving in the state Senate for eight   
   years.   
      
   The House speaker promoted legislative wins from his most recent   
   term, including overseeing the passage of a budget package with   
   bipartisan support and legislation intended to bring new water   
   sources to the state — one in which conservation issues loom   
   large.   
      
   Farnsworth touted his Trump endorsement prominently, while also   
   claiming to be the best candidate to tackle inflation, migration   
   at the border and overhauling elections.   
      
   Asked what a Farnsworth win would say about the state of the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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