Republican
MAGA extremist and
conspiracy theorist Kelli Ward served as the
chair of the Arizona Republican Party from
2019 to 2023. She previously served in the
Arizona State Senate from 2013 to 2015. She
challenged incumbent Senator John McCain in
the Republican primary for the United States
Senate in 2016. Resigning from the state
senate to focus on the race, Ward was
defeated 51% to 39%. She ran in the 2018
Republican primary election for the U.S.
Senate, initially against Jeff Flake, and
then against Martha McSally, after Flake's
decision not to seek re-election. Ward was
defeated by McSally in the Republican
primary. She became chair of the Arizona
Republican Party in 2019. After the 2020
United States presidential election, in
which incumbent President Donald Trump lost
in 25 states, including Arizona, she filed
lawsuits seeking to nullify the state's
election results. She provided no evidence
of wrongdoing in the election and by
December 9, federal and state judges had
dismissed all challenges against
President-elect Joe Biden's victory in
Arizona. Under her leadership, the Arizona
Republican Party lost their US Senate seat,
the governor's seat, the office of the
Secretary of State, and the office of the
Arizona Attorney General.
Arizona’s 11 fake electors sign a document in Phoenix on Dec. 14 2020, falsely claiming that they were the state’s electors and that Donald Trump won the presidential election in Arizona. Screen capture by AZGOP
A grand jury has indicted 18 people, including two Arizona state senators and the former head of the Arizona Republican Party, in a fake elector scheme that aimed to install Donald Trump as the president after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has not released the names of everyone who was indicted, but all 11 fake electors were charged:
"According
to her
detractors,
two-time
failed U.S.
Senate
candidate
and former
Arizona
Republican
Party Chair Kelli
Ward is
primarily
responsible
for making
the Arizona
GOP
penniless
and
obsolete,
allowing Charlie
Kirk’s
pro-MAGA
group,
Turning
Point USA,
to usurp the
state GOP,
drive
traditional
Republicans
from office
and turn
Turning
Point into a
pro-Trump money-making
machine that
has,
ironically,
ceded the
ideological
middle
ground to
the Arizona
Democratic
Party."
"Arizona actually had two fake elector plots—one a bunch of sovereign citizen goobers and the other organized by the Arizona Republican Party. The GOP was very proud of their crime, filming the whole thing and posting photos on their Twitter account. They smiled as they committed a felony, telling Republicans that theirs is the “only slate of 11 you need to worry about,” not the sovereign citizens and certainly not the duly elected and qualified electors. The happy faces in that photo are probably not smiling now. Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who pled guilty in the Georgia racketeering case, was one of the movers behind the fake electors scheme nationwide, and as part of his plea deal he’s agreed to testify against other co-conspirators."
"Arizona’s
criminal
probe into
the 2020
fake
electors
plot is
heating up
and
investigators
are now
asking
plenty of
questions
about a key
Donald Trump
ally
involved in
it: former
state GOP
chair Kelli
Ward.
The Arizona
probe has
been
accelerating
in the past
several
weeks, two
sources
familiar
with the
matter tell
Rolling
Stone, with
prosecutors
gathering
evidence and
speaking
with
individuals
with
knowledge of
how the fake
electors
scheme was
carried out
in the
state. The
fake
electors
plot was a
core
component of
the
then-president
and his
aligned
lawyers’
plans to
overturn his
2020
election
defeat and
stop the
legitimate
transfer of
power to his
Democratic
successor
Joe Biden.
The sources
add that
Ward — once
one of the
state’s most
prominent
Republicans
— and her
potential
contacts and
private
activities
following
Election Day
2020 have
been of
particular
interest to
investigators
as of late.
One of these
sources
describes
Arizona
investigators
as “moving
aggressively”
on this
stage of the
inquiry into
the state’s
pro-Trump
fake
electors,
which
included
Ward, a
Trump
hardliner
and
then-chair
of the
Arizona
Republican
Party."
"Ward tried
to stop
Maricopa
County
officials
from
counting
ballots, the
filing
reads.
Further, the
filing says,
she tried to
get a top
official in
Arizona’
most
populous
county in
contact with
then-President Donald
Trump.
She also,
the filing
says,
promoted
false claims
about voting
machines.
Finally, the
filing notes
that she
became part
of an
alternate
slate of
electors who
were part of
a failed
scheme that
could
delayed or
overturned
the 2020
general
election
victory of
President
Joe Biden."
"Arizona
Republican
Party Chair Kelli
Ward asserted
her Fifth
Amendment
right
against
self-incrimination
to avoid
answering
questions
from the
Jan. 6
select
committee, a
lawyer for
the panel
revealed in
federal
court
Tuesday.
“Dr. Ward
was deposed
by the
select
committee,
and she
declined to
answer on
every
substantive
question and
asserted her
rights under
the Fifth
Amendment,”
select
committee
attorney
Eric
Columbus
said during
a court
hearing
before
Arizona-based
U.S.
District
Court Judge
Diane
Humetewa.
Columbus did
not say when
Ward’s
deposition
took place,
though the
select
panel’s
subpoena
instructed
her to
appear on
March 8,
2022.
Columbus
revealed
Ward’s
posture
during a
hearing on
the
committee’s
attempt to
obtain her
phone
records from
cell phone
carrier
T-Mobile.
Ward sued
the panel to
block
T-Mobile
from
cooperating,
but Humetewa
recently
rejected her
effort. "
"Arizona
Republican
Party
Chairwoman Kelli
Ward shared
a tweet from
an account
rife with
white racist
content and
conspiracy
theories on
Monday
evening.
Ward
retweeted a
violent
video that
appears to
show a white
child being
savagely
beaten by a
larger boy
with a
darker
complexion,
with the
caption
“homeschool
your
children.”
“Violent,
hate-filled
predators
are loose in
our public
schools. And
‘the system’
again puts
innocent
children in
danger,” she
quote-tweeted.
The original
tweet came
from Dan
Lyman, who
describes
himself as a
“pureblood”
in his
Twitter bio
and has a
pinned tweet
of a
shirtless
man who
appears to
be him at
the top of
the account
with the
caption
“White Boy
Summer has
officially
begun.”
Lyman’s
Twitter
account is a
cascade of
violent
videos,
mostly of
Black people
attacking
white
people, as
he seemingly
looks to
paint a
crisis of
anti-white
violence in
the U.S., as
well as
content from
white
supremacist
Nick Fuentes
and
right-wing
conspiracy
theorists
like Mike
Cernovich."
"Kelli
Ward,
the head of
the Arizona
Republican
Party and
her husband,
Michael,
both received
grand jury
subpoenas
from the
Department
of Justice
regarding
their
involvement
in a scheme
to send up
fake
electors to
Congress on
Jan. 6,
2021."
"In the last
24 hours,
state GOP
Chairwoman Kelli
Ward has
attacked
House
Speaker Rusty
Bowers,
given him an
insulting
nickname &
endorsed his
opponent in
the Aug. 2
primary. Is
this really
how state
party
leaders
act?"
"new texts
were turned
over by
Meadows to
the House
committee
investigating
the events
of January
6, 2021,
when rioters
breached the
U.S. Capitol
as lawmakers
were voting
to certify
the 2020
presidential
election and
declare Joe
Biden the
next
president.
[...] Other
names
included
Arizona
Congressman Andy
Biggs,
who
represents
much of the
East Valley,
and Arizona
Republican
Party chair Kelli
Ward.
Both have
played
high-profile
roles in
disseminating
election
fraud
conspiracies
over the
last two
years —
Biggs from
Washington
and Ward
from Lake
Havasu
City."
"Eleven Arizona Republicans signed a document representing a nonexistent organization and declared, “We are the electors who represent the legal voters of Arizona.” It was part of a scheme by the Trump campaign to organize phony electors in seven states. Attorney General Kris Mayes vowed to look into the matter. According to the Post, prosecutors have contacted many people involved and their lawyers. Investigators are in the “fact-gathering” phase. The “fake electors” under investigation include two lawmakers, Arizona State Senators Anthony Kern of Glendale and Jake Hoffman of Queen Creek. Tyler Bowyer of the far-right activist group Turning Point USA and then-state GOP Chair Kelli Ward also signed their name to the document."
"A clip of the head of the Arizona Republican Party and her husband signing illegitimate election result documents—while falsely claiming they were presidential electors—has re-emerged, after it was revealed the pair were subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack."
"Two Arizona
Republicans
are among
six people
issued
subpoenas
Tuesday by
the House
Jan. 6
Committee,
with state
Rep. Mark
Finchem and
state GOP
Chair Kelli
Ward told
to turn over
documents
and appear
for
depositions
next month.
The
individuals
included in
the latest
batch of
subpoenas
for records
and
interviews
were
reportedly
among the Donald
Trump supporters
involved in
sending
slates of
so-called
"alternate
electors" to
Congress to
be included
in the
electoral
votes cast
for
president in
the 2020
election.
Finchem, a
member of
the state
House from
Oro Valley,
is running
in the
Republican
primary to
be Arizona
secretary of
state — the
office that
oversees
elections.
Ward, who
served a
single term
in the state
Senate
before twice
unsuccessfully
seeking the
nod from GOP
voters in
U.S. Senate
primaries,
has been the
chair of the
state
Republican
Party since
2019. Both
Finchem and
Ward have
been
outspoken
Trump
supporters
and backed
the
drawn-out
and bumbling
"audit" of
the election
in Maricopa
County,
hewing to
the
conspiracist
line that
the election
was "stolen"
from the
former
president.
The phone
records of
Ward and her
husband were
already
subpoenaed
earlier this
month by the
committee.
They filed
suit to
block those
documents
from being
turned
over."
"Arizona
Republican
Party Kelli
Ward is
fighting a
subpoena
aimed at
getting to
the bottom
of what
increasingly
appears to
be a
conspiracy
to overturn
the results
of the 2020
election so
that Donald
Trump could
serve a
second
term."
"An
anti-mask
mandate
rally Friday
that will
feature
gubernatorial
candidate Kari
Lake,
staunchly
anti-vax
Sen. Kelly
Townsend,
and various
other high
profile,
far-right
politicians
has settled
on an
interesting
venue: an
elementary
school
campus in
Phoenix."
"Dr. Kelli
Ward,
chair of the
Arizona
Republican
Party and
(according
to her
website)
still a
practicing
physician,
has joined
fellow high
profile
Republicans
whose aim,
it seems, is
to put as
many members
of the GOP
as possible
in…the
morgue."
"you should
know that
Chemtrail Kelli
Ward, Patron
Saint of
Batshit and
actual chair
of the
Arizona GOP,
went on the
One America
News Network
earlier this
week and
threatened
to arrest
the Maricopa
County Board
of
Supervisors"
""As has
been the
case, with
the chair,
she says
very crazy
things on a
regular
occasion. I
mean, this
is just
further
evidence of
that," said
Sen. T.J.
Shope, a
Republican
from
Coolidge."
"Arizona Republican activists say they have gathered enough support to force a new election of state party officers, including the position of GOP chair held by Kelli Ward.
The Republican activists launched their effort to force a do-over of the party’s Jan. 23 election after weeks of complaints that the closed-door election was improperly managed.
Ward and other party representatives had rejected repeated calls over the past two months to audit the results and procedures of the election, drawing a lawsuit from two activists and criticism from state lawmakers who drew comparisons between her calls for transparency in the 2020 presidential election with her rejection of calls for an audit of her own win."
"Dr. Kelli
Ward,
the
far-right
conspiracy
theory-embracing
chairwoman
of the
Arizona
Republican
Party,
encouraged
her Twitter
followers to
don scrubs
and personal
protective
equipment
while
attending
“reopen”
rallies to
bamboozle
the media."
Question 4: Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their conscience.*
Candidates' Position: Support.
Question 9: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law.
"Cernovich
spent months
peddling the
debunked
"Pizzagate"
conspiracy
theory,
which
alleges
high-ranking
Democratic officials,
including
former
Democratic
presidential
nominee
Hillary
Clinton, are
involved in
a child
pedophilia
ring."
"Months
after a
white
supremacist
in Wisconsin
tweeted his
support for
Arizona U.S.
Senate
candidate Kelli
Ward,
she has
begun
distancing
herself from
him."
Question 4: Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs.*
Candidates' Position: Support
Question 9: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law.
Question 9: Arizona’s voter-approved constitutional definition of marriage should be defended to the fullest extent legally possible.
Candidates' Position: Support
Question 11: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in antidiscrimination law.
Candidates' Position: Oppose
Question 15: Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs.*
Question 9: Amending the United States Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Candidates' Position: Support
Question 11: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law.
Candidates' Position: Oppose
Question 15: Protecting professionals from being required to provide services that violate their moral or religious beliefs.*
