“After the required statutory review by my office and by county elections officials across the state, the Patriot Party of Arizona has not met the minimum signature requirement and, therefore, does not qualify as a new political party for federal, statewide, and legislative races in the 2024 Primary and General Elections under Arizona law,” Fontes said in a press release.
The news comes as Fontes has faced pressure from the Republican National Committee and the Arizona Republican Party, who claimed that they
would take Fontes to court if the Patriot Party of Arizona became a recognized party. The GOP claimed that 8,000 signatures were from non-registered voters and that 10,000 signatures were from more than two years ago, among other errors.
In a press release, the AZGOP celebrated the Patriot Party’s failure to obtain enough signatures, touting it as “a significant victory in maintaining the integrity of the state’s petition signature gathering process.”
More than 50 AZGOP volunteers “meticulously reviewed over 37,000 signatures by hand at the AZGOP headquarters until the early hours of the morning,” the party claimed.
The AZGOP also attacked Fontes, saying changes he made to the process for new parties to qualify were “favoring partisan interests over transparent and impartial processes.”
The leader of the Patriot Party, John Fillmore, a former Republican state legislator, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Patriot Party of Arizona was formerly headed by Daniel McCarthy and Steven Tyler Daniels. McCarthy sought the U.S. Senate seat in 2020 as a Republican, but lost in the primary election to Martha McSally. Daniels earlier this year failed in his bid to become chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. Both men have been known in Arizona politics for their often
brash political tactics against what they call the “uniparty” system, a fringe theory that posits there are no meaningful differences between how Republicans and Democrats govern.
The group has been aiming to become a recognized political party in Arizona since 2021, when it
missed a deadline to turn in signatures ahead of 2022.
Recognized political parties automatically gain access to the general election ballot.
The group has gained the attention and support of extremists on the far right, such as anti-LGBTQ provocateur Ethan Schmidt, who McCarthy
encouraged to harass people wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The first time I met Ethan, that’s what I said, I said, ‘Go out and f***ing shame people with masks,’” McCarthy
said in a video uploaded by Schmidt. “Every single person that is wearing a mask right now should be legitimately ostracized from society.”
The former leaders themselves are no stranger to extreme activities. Daniels was arrested while disrupting
a school board meeting in Chandler in 2021. The Patriot Party of Arizona was heavily involved in protests at school boards across the state starting at the small town of Vail where a large crowd of parents filled up the board chambers. Among them were Daniels and Justine Wadsack, who was elected to the state Senate in 2022.
The news comes as
Democrats in Arizona are suing over the No Labels Party qualifying for ballot access in Arizona. The No Labels Party has filed its own lawsuit seeking to block people from running for offices other than president under its banner.
