Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin will face Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in the November general election after winning the Republican primary, NBC News reported.
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Kolodin defeated former state Republican Party chairwoman Gina Swoboda to win the Republican nomination.
Kolodin has frequently questioned past election results in interviews and led multiple lawsuits to overturn Arizona election results in 2020 and 2022, earning him reprimands from judges and the state bar association. Kolodin is backed by the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA and several Arizona Republican politicians.
He is currently running for election chief in a battleground state during the 2028 presidential election. Part of the role of Arizona’s Secretary of State is to oversee state elections. According to the Secretary of State’s website, the office’s duties include certifying “voting devices, election results, candidates and means of voting, as well as statewide election results.”
In a joint PBS interview featuring both candidates, Kolodin said Arizona voters want more transparency and openness in elections.
“Instead of them getting it from Adrian Fontes, they’re going to get it from me,” Kolodin said.
“I think voters in this primary and across the state have serious concerns about the way the election is being run,” he said. Kolodin also said that without more poll watchers, the state’s citizens won’t have confidence in elections.
Fontes, who previously ran for office in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, has been outspoken about efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to cast doubt on election results in Arizona and elsewhere. He is seeking re-election for a second term in 2022, defeating a Republican opponent backed by Trump.
Mr. Fontes would manage Arizona’s elections in 2024, when Mr. Trump took over the state and won a second term as president. Trump narrowly lost Arizona in 2020.
