Arizona election official's battle to fend off MAGA-aligned primary challenger heats up
PHOENIX — In a key Arizona county, the battle over the last two elections is still raging months out from the next one.
PHOENIX — In a key Arizona county, the battle over the last two elections is still raging months out from the next one. No one is feeling that more than Stephen Richer.
Richer, one of the most outspoken Republican defenders of the election process in the country, is simultaneously trying to prepare to manage the vote this fall in Maricopa County, the largest in the battleground state of Arizona, while fighting to keep his job.
The typically sleepy race for Maricopa County recorder is heating up, with Richer and his GOP opponents — one of whom is backed by a cadre of MAGA-aligned election deniers — squaring off for their first and only debate Monday just over a month out from the primary.
“No, the election was not stolen,” said Richer, the only candidate to directly answer the moderator’s question Monday about whether the 2020 or the 2022 elections were stolen.
Asked whether former President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results and Kari Lake’s refusal to accept her 2022 defeat in the governor’s race were catalysts for election denialism in the state, Richer was unequivocal.
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