Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, who describes himself as a lifelong Republican and a Trump skeptic, laid into the newly elected chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, Jeff DeWit, over his public appearance with far-right state Sen. Wendy Rogers over the weekend, reported 12 News.
"It was DeWit’s first full day as the Republican Party’s new leader. His introduction and praise of Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers prompted wild cheers at a political rally Sunday evening," reported Joe Dana. "Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a lifelong Republican who rejects Trumpism, predicts DeWit’s decision to elevate extremists like Rogers will hurt the party."
"It’s really not a very good start to have individuals like Wendy Rogers and Kari Lake be beside him right after his election to be the party chair," Romley said of DeWitt. "You are going to disenfranchise more and more Republicans. The party is going to shrink."
Rogers is a controversial conspiracy theorist who has denied the results of the 2020 presidential election, has ties to the Oath Keepers militia who helped storm the Capitol on January 6, and, as the report noted, "promotes the 'groyper' movement, a loose network of white nationalists" — a movement founded by neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. She was censured by the Arizona Senate last year after attending a white nationalist rally.
READ MORE: Trump's 2024 fundraising haul is a massive dud: documents
Speaking to 12 News, Republican strategist Steve Barnes defended DeWit's decision.
“Jeff DeWit’s detractors, I’m sure, can find a lot of rocks to throw at this particular storyline. Some of those detractors are in the Republican Party. It’s a complicated amoeba that’s moving about and growing and trying to figure out what it wants to be,” he said.
All of this comes as the Arizona GOP suffered a disastrous performance in the 2022 midterms, failing to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly while also losing the governor and attorney general races.
The failed GOP gubernatorial candidate, Trump-backed former Phoenix local news anchor Kari Lake, continues to deny the results of the election and baselessly proclaims herself to be the true winner. She was criminally referred to the attorney general's office for investigation earlier this week after she tweeted out copies of voter signatures, a possible violation of state law.
