Polling suggests that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden could become the first Democrat to win the state of Arizona since Bill Clinton won it in 1996 -- and conservative writer Shay Khatiri believes that the Arizona Republican Party is largely to blame.
In a piece published by The Bulwark, Khatiri notes that the Arizona GOP has been growing more extreme over the past ten years, and has been hurt badly by state lawmakers who spout racism, commit crimes, or traffic in conspiracy theories.
"Most infamously, former representative David Stringer faced calls for his resignation after a recording of his racist remarks surfaced in 2018," he writes. "Stringer didn’t resign. Then, in 2019, it was revealed that he had been convicted of horrific sex crimes in the 1980s. Stringer then resigned -- but he soon ran for and won a GOP state committeeman position."
Other Arizona Republicans cited by Khatiri include former state Rep. Don Shooter, who "was expelled from the legislature for sexual harassment"; state Rep. David Cook, who faces "bribery and campaign-finance-violation charges" that arose after he got caught having an affair with the daughter of a top lobbyist; and state Rep. Kelly Townsend, who has claimed that vaccines are part of a communist plot.
There's also Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward, who in 2018 accused the late Sen. John McCain of intentionally timing his death to hurt her ill-fated candidacy for the Senate.
Khatiri concludes that these scandals have all combined to batter the party's image in the Grand Canyon State, and he warned that it could face a major backlash in the polls because of it.
"Polls continue to suggest that in the 2020 elections -- just five months away -- voters could send a clear signal of disapproval to the state’s Republicans," he writes. "The party once known for immigrant-friendly statesmen is now associated with racism, xenophobia, lunacy, scandal, and corruption."
