XPost: alt.politics.elections, talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: alt.politics.trump   
   From: so.long.liz.cheney@washpost.com   
      
   In article    
    wrote:   
   >   
   > Trump terrifies Democrats.   
   >   
      
   Mark Finchem, a prominent 2020 election denier and an Arizona   
   state legislator, has won the Republican secretary of state   
   primary, NBC News projects.   
      
   With 99% percent of the expected vote in, Finchem, who was   
   endorsed by former President Donald Trump, had 40% of the vote.   
   State Rep. Shawnna Bolick, another 2020 election denier, had 19%   
   of the vote, while businessman Beau Lane got 25%.   
      
   With his win, Finchem, who continues to falsely claim that   
   President Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election in the state,   
   gets one step closer to being the top elections official in   
   Arizona, a crucial swing state where efforts by Trump allies to   
   overturn the last presidential election have persisted in the   
   years since the race.   
      
   If elected, Finchem would, as the official who oversees the   
   state office administering the 2024 presidential election, have   
   the power to possibly affect the outcome of the race. Experts   
   say that scenario could contribute to an even more robust effort   
   to overturn a presidential election. Trump is weighing another   
   bid in 2024.   
      
   Finchem advances to the general election against the winner of a   
   Democratic race that is still undecided between Adrian Fontes,   
   the former Maricopa County recorder, and state Rep. Reginald   
   Bolding.   
      
   Finchem, a member of the Arizona Legislature, is among the most   
   outspoken state lawmakers insisting that Trump won the 2020   
   election. Trump endorsed Finchem last year, saying in a   
   statement that “Mark was willing to say what few others had the   
   courage to say” about the 2020 race.   
      
   At a January rally in Florence, Arizona, Finchem, standing   
   alongside the former president, said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we   
   know it and they know it — Donald Trump won.” Trump held another   
   rally with Finchem, as well as other Arizona Republican   
   candidates, in July, where Finchem and others repeated similarly   
   false claims.   
      
   Neither Finchem nor his campaign has responded to multiple   
   emails and phone calls from NBC News requesting a response to   
   questions about his claims about the 2020 election.   
      
   As a state legislator, Finchem has introduced several election-   
   related bills, including one that would make all ballots public   
   records, searchable in an online database.   
      
   Finchem also introduced several resolutions seeking to decertify   
   the results of the 2020 election in three major Arizona   
   counties, as well as a bill that would give the Legislature the   
   power to reject election results. He supported a partisan review   
   of Maricopa County’s election results, even though the review   
   reaffirmed Biden’s victory.   
      
   Finchem has appeared on QAnon radio talk shows and attended the   
   “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, which led   
   to the storming of the Capitol. He also spoke at a “Stop the   
   Steal” event a day earlier, telling the crowd that Trump had won   
   the 2020 election. In a 2014 interview with local news outlet   
   InMaricopa.com, Finchem identified himself as a member of the   
   Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group whose founder was   
   charged with seditious conspiracy and other counts in connection   
   with the Jan. 6 insurrection.   
      
   NBC News has reported that the House committee investigating the   
   Jan. 6 riot had subpoenaed Finchem, seeking more information   
   about his claims that the election was “rigged” and his   
   communications with organizers of the “Stop the Steal” rally on   
   Jan. 6.   
      
   Finchem is a member of the pro-Trump America First Secretary of   
   State Coalition, which includes election-denying secretary of   
   state candidates in several other swing states, including Jim   
   Marchant (the Republican nominee in Nevada), Kristina Karamo   
   (the Republican nominee in Michigan) and Jody Hice (who lost his   
   race in May in Georgia to Brad Raffensperger). All four of the   
   states are ones in which Biden scored his narrowest victories in   
   2020.   
      
   Biden beat Trump in Arizona by about 10,500 votes, and none of   
   the many lawsuits or audits over the results in the state   
   uncovered any widespread fraud.   
      
   With his primary victory, Finchem becomes the sixth Republican   
   secretary of state candidate who denies the results of the 2020   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)