I got some news It's been somewhat overshadowed by so much going on in national politics, but Tuesday was a bad night for Republicans, who have been dealing with election deniers within the party.

In Maricopa County, the largest and most volatile county in America's largest battleground state, Republican primary voters ousted incumbent Stephen Richer, who rose to national prominence over the past three years against Kali Lake and other Trump supporters. did. State Rep. Justin Heap, who defeated Mr. Richer, has never openly challenged the legitimacy of past elections, but his supporters certainly have – he is currently facing charges. He had been scouted to run by a fake elector in the United States and was touting his support for two pro-Constitution legislators. The state's 2020 election results are set to be rejected, backed by Lake, who falsely accused the incumbent of adding “300,000 illegal ballots” to the tally when he ran for governor in 2022. Republican voters also fired members of the oversight committee (in charge of voting and counting votes on Election Day) whose performance, like their colleagues, drew the ire of the Trump administration.

But it wasn't just Richer and Maricopa. In Yuma County, which borders Mexico and California, another Republican election official, Richard Colwell, is on the verge of defeat by David Lara, a conservative activist who has spread conspiracies about the election. around boltAlex Barnes:

Lara has repeatedly lied about Arizona's elections and said election fraud has been widespread and public for many years. He has also floated that the fraud is punishable by death. His complaints helped provide the inspiration for some to debunk the lie of “2,000 Mules,” a movie popular on the right that claims the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The New York Times reported in 2022 that the film was based on an investigation Lara allegedly conducted with another county resident into election fraud.

At the beginning of this year, 2,000 mules Publication was suspended by the conservative Salem Media Group. settled the lawsuit A Georgia man accused the film of voter fraud. Despite claims of a large-scale illegal ballot harvesting operation, the biggest incident to arise from the “scandal” that Lara was involved in exposing Confidence It's about a former mayor who collected four ballots from his neighbors in Lara's hometown of San Luis. Mr. Lara said he had a 77-vote lead over Mr. Colwell, with several thousand early votes remaining. new york times He said he had plans to monitor the location of ballot boxes in the town ahead of the 2022 election, but “I didn't want to tip off the enemy.” In an interview with my colleague reveal That year, Lara claimed that he had lost the previous election due to massive voter fraud.

The county leans Republican, but not overwhelmingly so. 2022 Senate candidate Blake Masters received just 51% of the vote there. Unlike Maricopa, where Democrats fielded a reliable candidate for just such an eventuality, former JAG attorney Tim Stringham, the Yuma Democratic Party had no candidate on the primary ballot. According to boltthey expect write-in candidates to receive enough votes to qualify for the nomination.

Lara also spoke at last month's Republican National Convention, where he was featured as a .everyday americans” and concerned about border security. Indicative of how little attention this campaign received, neither the Trump campaign biography nor the speech itself. arizona republicArticles of his speech mentioned the important elected office he is currently seeking.