Losing GOP candidate files lawsuit claiming newly-elected Latina state rep in Arizona is not a citizen

An anti-immigrant activist has filed a lawsuit challenging the citizenship of Arizona State Representative-elect Raquel Téran (D-Phoenix) — but has no evidence to support the claim.

The Arizona Republic reported that Alice Novoa, a perennial GOP candidate and conspiracy theorist, filed a lawsuit against Téran in Maricopa County Superior Court the day before the general election claiming the Democrat is not qualified to hold office because she is "not a legal citizen of the United States."

"This is obviously upsetting," the newly-elected state representative wrote after being served papers on Thursday night, "but not surprising."

Novoa's suit "is just another attempt to silence me and the community I fight for," Téran wrote.

The report noted that Novoa has promoted a theory claiming immigrants are involved in a "secret plot" to reclaim the Southwest on behalf of Mexico.

Arizona Republic reporter Dustin Gardner noted that the anti-immigrant activist who ran unsuccessfully as a write-in candidate for Arizona secretary of state also accused Téran of not being a citizen in 2012 and that the Maricopa County Superior Court didn't pay filing fees in either case.

"She requested her fees be waived because she claims she doesn't work and has no income," the report noted. "The court has waived or deferred more than $650 between the two cases."

In the 2012 case that took place during Téran's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, the suit was dismissed quickly when Téran's lawyer produced her birth certificate.

In January 2018, Novoa claimed the U.S.-Mexico border is "infested by illegal aliens" and, according to the KJZZ radio station, accused "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, of being part of a radical Mexican-Islamic-Catholic movement."