The Arizona Republican Party selected a new Trump-endorsed chair on Jan. 27 after the former party leader resigned following a bribery controversy.
“We proudly present our new Chairwoman [Gina Swoboda], alongside the dynamic new AZGOP Board!” the party said in a Jan. 28 post on social media platform X. “With a laser focus on the 2024 elections, our mission is clear: to win additional seats in the state legislature, reclaim our Senate and Congressional seats, take control of school boards, and win back the White House. We are ready for victory!”
Ms. Swoboda was elected at the annual GOP meeting held at Dream City Church in north Phoenix on Jan. 27, which was attended by more than 1,000 people. Previously, only elections for the party’s lower-level positions were scheduled for the day.
However, the sudden resignation of former state GOP chair Jeff DeWit due to bribery allegations triggered an urgent election to select a successor. Mr. DeWit was only one year into his scheduled two-year term. His departure triggered a rush of candidates who aimed to secure the position.
Three candidates were initially nominated: Ms. Swoboda, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor, and Mesa resident Verl Farnsworth, who ran for the office of president of the United States in 2012.
According to Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers, Ms. Swoboda secured 67 percent of the votes.
In a Jan. 28 X post, Ms. Swoboda voiced her support for former President Donald Trump, who backed her in the race.
“Arizona is the key to the presidency,“ she wrote. ”I was proud to have the support of President Trump in this victory to lead the AZGOP into the most important election of our lifetime. Now it’s time to turn out every last vote for the 47th President, DONALD J TRUMP!”
On Jan. 27, President Trump said in a Truth Social post that Ms. Swoboda had his “complete and total endorsement to be chairwoman of the Republican Party of Arizona.”
“She is an outstanding person with incredible passion for our Party,” he wrote.
Kari Lake, a candidate for the U.S. Senate who allegedly was offered bribes by Mr. DeWit, called Ms. Swoboda’s win a “massive victory.”
“Gina is a National Leader in election law. She is a grassroots hero and is loved by Republicans of ALL stripes. Gina is battle-tested and a woman of great integrity—she understands that the White House and Senate Majority—and frankly, the survival of our Republic—runs right through State 48,” Ms. Lake wrote in a Jan. 28 X post.
“President Trump and I were VERY proud to endorse Gina. We look forward to restoring Arizona’s faith in elections and winning BIG in 2024.”
Ms. Swoboda works as a senior adviser on elections for the Arizona Senate. She is the executive director of the Voter Reference Foundation, which describes itself as “dedicated to ensuring transparent, accurate, and fair elections” in the country.
The Controversy
The bribery scandal that led to Mr. DeWit’s resignation came to light after The Daily Mail published a recording from March 2023 featuring a conversation between him and Ms. Lake.
In the recording, Mr. DeWit says that “very powerful people” want to keep Ms. Lake out of the Senate race for two years.
“They’re willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way. So this conversation never happened,” he said.
“This is crazy though. They should want me. I’m a great candidate. People love me. These people are corrupt,” Ms. Lake responded. “This is about defeating Trump, and I think that’s a bad, bad thing for our country … This is about the final death blow to Trump, and I don’t think that’s good for our country.”
Mr. DeWit agreed: “It’s not … but at the same time I’m not even sure Trump can win again.”
“Just say, is there a number at which—” Mr. DeWit says before being cut off by Ms. Lake.
“I can be bought? That’s what it’s about,” she says.
Mr. DeWit suggests that he might be killed if the powerful figures behind him offering the bribe were to be exposed.
“Don’t tell anybody we had this conversation,” he warns Ms. Lake.
After the recording was published, Ms. Lake said in an interview with NBC that Mr. DeWit has “got to resign.”
On the same day, Mr. Dewit said he resigned from the post of Arizona GOP chair. In a statement, he accused Ms. Lake’s team of secretly recording their controversial conversation and leaking it to the media.
“I said things I regret, but I realize when hearing Lake’s recording that I was set up,” he said. “I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party.”
During the Jan. 27 election, when Ms. Lake took to the stage to nominate Ms. Swoboda, some audience members booed in an apparent rebuff to her involvement in the bribing scandal.
In an interview with AZCentral, Arizona Speaker of the House Ben Toma said that the recent turmoil was “unfortunate” for the party.
“I hope we can find a way to get united as a party very soon because I think that matters a lot,“ he said. ”It’ll make a big difference by the time we get to the general election.”
J.D. Watson, a state committee member from Scottsdale, said he was concerned about the corruption exposed by the scandal.
“I believe that [DeWit] did something wrong. … He needs to own up to it and stop being the victim.”
Mr. Watson also said he appreciated that Ms. Lake turned down the bribe and potentially leaked her conversation with Mr. DeWit.
“We’re talking six figures, possibly, and she could not be bought.”
Kari Lake also stated that the reason illegals are pouring through to Arizona instead of Texas was because of what Governor Abbott was doing to enforce the laws. As a Texan I would remind them they have a large Meteor crater about 18 miles east of Flagstaff they could dump them into for a few months of Law-abiding Democracy indoctrination. At 3960 ft wide It could house drug free, about NINE 100,000 capacity AT&T Cowboy stadiums full of illegals. Let them have all the cardboard huts and free tents they want, seized as damages from Democrat current run cities, and all the In-N-out Burgers they can eat, so long as they learn how not to mug employees or threaten the customers like they already do when Joe sets them free. Get caught stealing food you don’t eat. Get caught selling drugs, you get injected with a double dose of what you are peddling. Beats living under a bridge in San Francisco or Chicago, fighting the elements and fighting the legal American Taxpayers for food, jobs, and housing. If Joe’s 10-15 million entered illegals all decide to go home, enough food/gas/housing/ will become surplus to drop the price to pre-Trump inflation levels and everyone but Joe and the socialist Democrats will be happy. Those Ukrainian pilots in Tank killing A-10 Warthog training at the airbase near Tucson could make practice runs dropping skids of MRE’s into the crater,,,good enough for our troops, good enough for them.
How deep is that crater?
560 feet deep
Mr. Jeff DeWit suggests that he might be killed if the powerful figures behind him offering the bribe were to be exposed.
On the same day, Mr. Dewit said he resigned from the post of Arizona GOP chair. In a statement, he accused Ms. Lake’s team of secretly recording their controversial conversation and leaking it to the media.
“I said things I regret, but I realize when hearing Lake’s recording that I was set up,” Dewitt said.
Yea, YOU set yourself up and belong in prison.
“Mr. DeWit suggests that he might be killed if the powerful figures behind him offering the bribes were to be exposed.”,,,,,no doubt a veiled threat to Lake herself which proves that when you lie down with big dogs, you arise with big fleas. When you lie down with corrupt Democrats and now even RINOs, you end up in an Arkansas dirt bath like Jeffrey Epstein and Vince Foster. De Witt-less needs to be subpoena ’d for the names of those powerful men who themselves need a one-way trip to old sparky without the use of the sponge, who would gladly expose the Biden crime family to save their own sixes. Thank you, Ms. Lake, for your courage in the face of evil, and the will not to submit, but just do the right thing, the very definition of leadership absent from the current Biden administration, and apparently from some of the same RINOs who stabbed Trump in the back. You got my vote for Senator, Veep or any office you seek. “evil prevails then good men say or do nothing”,,,,it also gets extinguished when good women expose the evil that men speak and do to the cleansing light of day.
I wonder, if the Clinton cabal isn’t some how behind it.