Arizona’s Republican Party now has a new chair after Jeff DeWit’s abrupt resignation over a leaked recording that appeared to show him offering MAGA diehard Kari Lake money if she left politics for a couple of years.
Lake nominated Gina Swoboda, another right-winger who was endorsed by Donald Trump, on Saturday at a GOP meeting in north Phoenix, where she was reportedly met with boos and jeers as she took the stage. But that didn’t stop Swoboda from winning a majority of the votes and clinching party chair in a landslide.
Swoboda, who runs the nonprofit Voter Reference Foundation, was the Trump campaign’s state Election Day director in 2020, and her group has spread false claims about the integrity of the election system.
She replaces former party chair DeWit just days after he dramatically resigned amid an audio recording scandal involving Lake.
In a leaked recording that emerged earlier this week in the Daily Mail, DeWit appeared to dangle a bribe in front of Lake if she would sit out the upcoming Senate race in Arizona, telling her that there are “very powerful people that want to keep you out” and repeatedly asking her if there was any specific compensation that would entice her to drop out. The election denier can be heard telling DeWit “that would be immoral” and insisting that she can’t be bought.
Upon his resignation, DeWit accused Lake of editing their conversation and of leaking the tape, allegations to which she has not publicly responded. The crowning of Swoboda as the new party leader in Arizona signals a shift toward far-right control of the party in a state where elections are closely battled between Democrats and Republicans.
Lake, who’s endorsed by Trump, is currently the frontrunner to clinch the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona. She’s expected to face Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who’s running for the Democratic nomination, in the general election.
