Arizona GOP left in shambles after four years of Trump: report

On Saturday, POLITICO reported that Kirk Adams, former GOP Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and ex-chief of staff to Gov. Doug Ducey, slammed the "craziness" of the Arizona Republican Party, calling it "embarrassing."

"The craziness from the state Republican Party … it's pretty embarrassing," said Adams. "We have been fed a steady diet of conspiracy theories and stolen election rhetoric and, really, QAnon theories from the state Republican Party since before the election, but certainly after."

"The Trump era did more damage to the Republican Party in Arizona than almost anywhere else," reported David Siders and James Arkin. "Over the past two years, Republicans lost both Senate seats. In November, the state flipped Democratic in a presidential race for the first time since 1996. The GOP state party chair is currently at war with the governor. President Donald Trump's fingerprints are on all of it, yet the state party will likely pass a resolution next week to officially 'support & thank' the president. It'll also vote on measures to [censure] three prominent Republicans who were deemed insufficiently beholden to Trump: Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the wife of the late senator."

Such censure resolutions punishing perceived disloyalty within the party have become common in recent years; in 2014, the Arizona GOP censured Sen. John McCain himself for his "disastrous" record — a measure decidedly out of step with the state electorate, which re-elected him overwhelmingly two years later.

The losses for the Arizona GOP could worsen on their current path. In 2022, Ducey is term-limited from running again, raising the possibility of an even harder-right nominee, and Democrats could also make a play for the state house. Moreover, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who only won a special election, will stand for a full term that year.