A former Republican now running for Congress as a Democrat has a financial backer with ties to Arizona election deniers, according to a report.
Marlene Galan Woods, a former TV journalist in Phoenix whose late husband was once the GOP state attorney general, has made her former party's anti-democratic shift a focal point of her campaign. But a federal campaign finance report shows one of her biggest backers is an attorney who led Donald Trump's challenges to his election loss in the state, reported The Daily Beast.
"According to Federal Election Commission records, Bonnie Conrad, who is [attorney] Dennis Wilenchik’s wife, gave $6,600 to Woods’ campaign, which is twice the federally allowed maximum for a primary election," the website reported. "A note on the line item states that the donation was 'reattributed to Conrad and Wilenchik,' indicating that the $6,600 was split into two $3,300 contributions — the maximum allowed for a primary election — from the couple."
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Wilenchik and his law firm represented the Arizona Republican Party and its former chair Kelli Ward in two lawsuits intended to overturn Trump's election loss and Maricopa County's vote-counting procedure, and while judges quickly rejected those challenges, the attorney and his firm continued to file appeals related to the suits as recently as this year.
“I condemn any and all attempts at election denialism and the illegal attempts to subvert a free, fair, and secure election,” Woods told The Daily Beast. “It’s why I served as chair to Sec of State Adrian Fontes’ campaign, and it’s one of the key reasons I am running for Congress.”
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Woods described Wilenchik as an "acquaintance" of herself and her late husband Grant Woods, a moderate Republican, and indicated she had been unaware of the donation until The Daily Beast asked her about it.
“As soon as this was brought to my attention, I began the process of donating the contribution amount to the League of Women Voters,” she said.
Wilenchik told the website he considered Woods and her late husband longtime friends, and said "she would make an excellent candidate for Congress.”
“This is personal and has nothing to do with my official representation and support of the Arizona Republican Party,” he said.
