Heated Debate in Arizona Secretary of State Race Highlights Political Divides

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It was a hot political debate, for sure, but the heat was clearly on Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for secretary of state on Sept. 20.

The โ€œBig Lieโ€ of the stolen 2020 election and Jan. 6 were Arizona Horizon host Ted Simonsโ€™ big questions for Finchem during the half-hour long segment.

โ€œDo you think Arizona voters want their chief election officer at a riot at the U.S. Capitol to overthrow an election?โ€ Simons asked Finchem in a solemn tone. โ€œIs that what you think Arizona resident voter citizens want?โ€

Simons was referring to Finchemโ€™s attendance at the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol in Washington last year.

Finchem, who admitted to being interviewed by the Department of Justice and the Jan. 6 Committee, shot back, โ€œThe last I checked, [being] where something is happening is not illegal. I have been treated as a witness, not as a suspect.โ€

In the Hot Seat

For the next 26 minutes, nearly every question would be directed at Finchem.

It would be fair to say Finchem is not popular in the legacy media. A quick Google search revealed headlines alluding to his alleged conspiracy theories about a stolen 2020 election.

One reads, โ€œArizona GOP secretary of state nominee stands by election conspiracy.โ€ Another points to his alleged โ€œfealty to the Big Lie.โ€

It would also be fair to say the proverbial gloves will remain off as Finchem and his Democratic opponent, Adrian Fontes, duke it out in the run-up to the Nov. 8 general election in Arizona.

By his own remarks, Fontes is no fan of Finchem in the race for Arizonaโ€™s top election administrator, charactering Finchemโ€™s views about the 2020 election as nothing less than โ€œdangerous.โ€

Fontes said during the debate that the race is not only about preserving mail-in ballot voting in Arizona; it is about defending democracy from threats posed by โ€œthe far-right.โ€

Fontes, an attorney, cited Finchemโ€™s attendance at the Jan. 6 protest as hard proof of his political extremism.

โ€œWhat [Finchem] did was engage in a violent insurrectionโ€ resulting in the deaths of police officers, Fontes said, without mention to the protesters that died. โ€œHe is part of an organization that has called for the violent overthrow of this country,โ€ he repeated from claims made by voices in the legacy media that the Trump team is fighting to challenge.

Finchem upheld his record as a criminal justice investigator and two-term Arizona state representative who is running for secretary of state with the slogan, โ€œJust follow the law.โ€

In his view, Fontes, a former Maricopa County Recorder from 2017 to 2021, created his own election law for political reasons while serving in that position by printing illegal ballots.

Byย Allan Stein

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