Local Republican politicians appeared to be carrying lessons from their national mid-term shellacking back home to voters on Wednesday as officials delivered unexpected post-mortem party autopsies to audiences that weren’t expecting it.
ProPublica reporter Jen Fifield caught an earful of harsh party introspection Wednesday at the Maricopa County supervisors meeting, when Republican Supervisor Thomas Galvin apparently declared he had had enough of the Republican Party’s election year deceptions to continue without addressing them.
Galvin announced that his party’s election lies had become so prolific and damaging that they have now “led to the destruction of the Republican party here in Arizona, and frankly around the country.”
“A message to my constituents and to my party, the Republican party: Arizona needs to move on from the Cyber Ninjas era,” said Galvin, referring to a private company founded by far-right Republican, conspiracy theorist and QAnon supporter Doug Logan, who participated in a controversial and largely bungled review of Arizona’s 2020 election.
“[M]y fellow Republicans need to stop lying about allegations and conspiracy theories about election fraud,” commanded Galvin. “I saw a previous colleagues on the board of supervisors endure death threats, and were driven out of office. I had three new colleagues come into office and then I saw them subjected to the same things. They all came in telling voters that they respected their concerns about election conspiracy theories, but they quickly learned and saw that those conspiracy theories had no merit. And where they saw improvements to be made, they fought for improvements to be made. All three of them [includes] Mark Stewart, Debbie Lesco and Kate Brophy McGgee.”
“But to my fellow Republicans who have been trafficking these lies for the last 6 years, you need to stop,” continued Gavin, dropping a hammer. “Because you have led to the destruction of the Republican party here in Arizona, and frankly around the country. I have seen it firsthand, and it is disgusting. And it is disgusting to see what … my colleagues, especially Debbie Lesko, have to go through and endure.”
Gaving described “really pathetic stuff,” and he said people who are trafficking these messages, “know it is a lie.”
“In the very beginning, I actually wondered if some of them believed it, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. But after 6 years, I know if anyone is pushing this, they are lying.”
Gavin then concluded with a warning and a “message to my party: focus on the real issues.”
Local voters, like retired teacher Cindy Hoffman, posted on X, describing Galvin as “one of the few of what I call [John] McCain Republicans left.”
“Principled, not MAGA,’ said Hoffman. “I’m sure we don’t see eye to eye on a lot or maybe even most policy, but we know corruption and incipient fascism when we see it and speak out.”