Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit said on Friday in an email to the members of the Arizona GOP Executive Committee the party will not change the method of election administration for the party’s March 2024 GOP Presidential Primary, rejecting a proposal made to the state party six days earlier by the Maricopa County Republican Party to replace the state government administered primary election with a “firehouse primary,” one administered by the party itself rather than the state government.
“I am reaching out to provide a crucial update considering the resolution proposed by the Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) on August 26th, 2023, six days ago. This resolution insisted that the AZGOP withdraw from the Presidential Preference Primary, set for March 19, 2024, by September 1, 2023. This deadline was a mere six days after the MCRC first told anyone that this resolution, or idea, even existed,”DeWit said, adding:
First, I want to point out very clearly that my job is not to personally weigh judgment on a matter which is to be brought for a vote of the Executive Committee. I will not stand in the way of any idea that could improve election integrity, and I believe we all want to see fair and honest elections. It is easy to predict my actions, I will always do as state law and our Bylaws dictate.
I approached this with a mindset of collaboration, and a desire to see if it was a doable thing. Upon detailed consultation with our Legal Counsel, it is now evident that acting on this resolution would breach our bylaws, placing the AZGOP at risk of countless legal complications. The rushed resolution was proven to be problematic and an invitation for entities such as the Department of Justice to intervene in our election. To do something this large requires more time than six days, as our legal counsel has clearly explained.
The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) Executive Guidance Committee held a surprise meeting on Saturday, August 26 where they adopted a resolution demanding the Arizona GOP withdraw from a state-government-run election presidential primary election in March and replace it with a statewide GOP presidential primary election run by the party that would use paper ballots only in a one-day, one-vote election, hand-counted at the precinct level.
“At this most critical point in all our lifetime, and in the spirit of keeping the Republic for the sake of past, present, and future generations, the Republican Party must be proactive in protecting and defending We The People’s sacred Right to Vote. The 2024 Arizona Republican PPE offers the perfect opportunity for the Republican Party to Stand for Election Integrity on Election Day, proving we can hold elections that are as fair and honest as they are open and transparent: on paper ballots, in a one-day, one-vote election, hand-counted at the precinct level,” MCRC Chairman Berland said in a letter sent to DeWit accompanying the resolution on August 26.
DeWit (pictured above) said that the August 26 resolution from the Maricopa County Republican Committee was brought together very quickly and with very little planning.
“The latest action from the MCRC was something they sprung on everyone basically on Saturday almost in the middle of the night a very late called meeting. They gave everyone their 20 minutes to read something and some of the people already regret even a vote for it only 19 people voted for it. They’ve got to do more planning than this. We had a meeting two weeks ago of all the county chairs they didn’t show up. They had so many opportunities to talk to us about this and run it by us but I don’t think that’s their goal,” DeWit said.
State parties select the manner in which they select their nominees for president. In 2024, forty-six state Republican parties will select delegates to the Presidential nominating convention by state government-administered primary elections. Four state Republican parties will select delegates through caucuses. No state Republican party will use the “firehouse primary” method for selecting delegates to the Presidential nominating convention.
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to MCRC Chairman Berland to inquire if any state party anywhere administers its own presidential primary election but did not receive a reply before press time.
There are few instances in modern political history of a state Republican party using the “firehouse primary” method for selecting delegates to the Presidential nominating convention. One presidential historian told The Sun Times the last time this method was used in the Republican party was in a few states back in 1976.
“The main reality is the MCRC passed a simple two-page resolution at the last minute which called for the AZGOP to pull out of the election STATEWIDE. Arizona’s other 14 counties were not on board with this plan by Maricopa and are regularly unhappy that the Maricopa County Republican Committee tries to push large and unfunded ideas on the rest of the counties without ever seeking input first. Three weeks ago today, at the AZGOP Headquarters, we had a great and collaborative meeting of all the county Chairs and Maricopa once again was a no show. If this was such a great plan, why didn’t they come to the meeting and pitch everyone and seek input for ways to make the plan stronger?” DeWit said in an email to the party’s Executive Committee about the MCRC proposal.
“In the very short plan they did submit, there was no actual plan. Nothing referencing the organizational responsibilities, the budget or human resources required, nothing referencing the legality. Zero actual plan besides a hasty half page demand and then messaging causing mass confusion, as in all the people that now somehow believe that we were going to fix every election nationwide,” DeWit continued.
“In short, the leadership of the MCRC who does no real work themselves besides ordering other people around and censuring Republicans they don’t like demanded that the AZGOP pull out of the taxpayer funded Presidential Preference election and for the AZGOP and other 14 county parties to foot the $13-15 million bill. When we said there isn’t enough time in our Bylaws to vote to do that statewide but they are free to run a parallel election in their county, where they do the work and foot the bill, they of course disappeared. Given the pattern of the MCRC leadership, it won’t take long for them to come up with another half-baked plan for others to do a ton of work with no work required for themselves,” DeWit concluded.
In September 2019, the Arizona Republican Party announced that it would not hold a 2020 GOP Presidential Primary election, and instead decided it would put its full support behind incumbent President Donald Trump.
On March 22, 2016, Donald Trump won the GOP Presidential Primary in Arizona, picking up 45 percent of the 628,000 votes cast. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) finished in second place with 28 percent of the vote. In Arizona’s winner-take-all primary system, Trump earned all 58 of the Arizona delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention.
On Tuesday, the MCRC went to Rumble and X (formerly Twitter) to make their case, which was followed up with a response from the Arizona GOP:
🇺🇸 See the video response from AZGOP Chairman Jeff DeWit.
AZ Republicans are all hoping that the MCRC can start coming to meetings, provide more than twenty minutes for their members to read something before voting on important items, and work to win elections instead of… pic.twitter.com/AP3YHpglUy
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) August 30, 2023
Later in the week, the Arizona GOP sent an email to its Executive Committee, which read, in part:
One of the most fascinating dumb ideas in the Maricopa plan was that it did not allow for military serving overseas to vote, which for the AZGOP is an instant deal killer. In response to criticism of that, the MCRC First Vice-Chair Shelby Busch sent out an email blast saying “I asked a few Veterans today, would you care if you couldn’t vote in a PPE if we implemented this a one day one vote and they said they wouldn’t care and they don’t even think about the PPE overseas.” This is terrible. This led to very fiery exchanges with some of the members of the AZGOP Executive Committee who are veterans, now calling for her resignation.
In an email from Greg Wilkinson, Chairman of Yuma County to Shelby Busch, “Being a veteran, I would expect your immediate resignation from your position. You can no longer represent our veterans in any capacity. The pure gall of you insinuating to not allow veterans to vote in our election in any way when they’ve have sacrificed arms, legs, and other things so we have our freedom and are able to vote. They are the true patriots not you. I would hope you would never show your face at another Republican meeting again.”
On Friday, MCRC committee member Dan Farley tweeted that “MCRC Chair Craig Berland acknowledges he didn’t consult w the AZGOP & he doesn’t really have a viable plan for the resolution he blindsided LD chairs w only about 20 min in advance of the ’emergency meeting’ he called, “citing audio from an interview with The Gaydos and Chad Show on KTAR News, 92.3 FM.
Ouch!! MCRC Chair Craig Berland acknowledges he didn’t consult w the AZGOP & he doesn’t really have a viable plan for the resolution he blindsided LD Chairs w only about 20 min in advance of the “emergency meeting” he called. The Gaydos and Chad Show Audio https://t.co/zIGVVTYLQG
— Dan Farley 🇺🇸 (@realDanFarley) September 1, 2023
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Michael Patrick Leahy is the Editor-in-Chief of The Star News Network, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Michael on X / Twitter @michaelpleahy. Email tips to [email protected]. Hannah Poling contributed to this report.
Photo “Jeff DeWit” by Jeff DeWit. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY 2.0.
