Former Governor Doug Ducey recently created a small firestorm in Arizona and the national media with his endorsement of political opponents Donald Trump and Kari Lake. Ducey’s refusal to cooperate with Trump’s desperate effort to stave off certification of the 2020 Arizona election results—actually refusing in public to take the President’s phone call—has made him a pariah to Trump loyalists. And who can forget Kari Lake’s denunciation of Ducey as a McCainite and traitor to conservative principles? By the end of Ducey’s term as Governor his name was booed at Republican events. At least for now, he’s probably unelectable to any statewide office as a Republican.
But Ducey’s endorsement of former adversaries validates two key principles of politics— ideas are more important than personalities. And winning is everything. Being a Republican is not just a political label. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, everyone who identifies as a Republican agrees on a core set of principles– limited government, low taxes, free markets and the freedom and dignity of individuals. Ducey’s endorsement of Republican candidates “up and down the ballot”, including those who have opposed him, demonstrates that he is big enough to put personal differences aside and Republican principles first.
My own experience with Governor Ducey is decidedly mixed. As a legislator I opposed his Red Flag bill and effort to put more cops in schools. When I warned about the changing demographics of the state and said that too much immigration was an “existential threat” to our unity and stability as a nation, Ducey denounced me as a racist. People close to the Governor’s office played a role in cutting short my second term in the Arizona legislature.
But my personal differences with Mr. Ducey do not overshadow my recognition of his accomplishments as Governor. His tireless support for ESAs are a game changer in public education. And his ‘flat tax’ income tax reform has put Arizona on a path to joining the nine other states that have no personal income tax. Personal differences aside, Doug Ducey was a successful Republican governor on many levels. He will be speaking in Prescott Valley on September 5th in his new capacity as CEO of the Citizens for Free Enterprise. Reservations can be made at https://communitysignatureseries.com/.
I have titled this article Call to Honor because it is addressed to my fellow Republicans as a reminder of what is at stake in the upcoming general election. Ballots will be mailed on October 9th—just 36 days from now—for the November 7th election. As Republicans, we are honor bound to support our party, as Governor Ducey reminds us, “up and down the ballot.”
After a hard fought and divisive Republican primary, that may not be easy for some of us. In our county and municipal elections, a number of incumbents lost. Understandably, their supporters are disappointed. But the temptation to resentment and refusal to support the victor must be resisted. There is too much at stake. Just because we may not have gotten the candidate we wanted doesn’t mean the winner is unworthy of support. We can’t afford to forget that if Republicans don’t win, the other side will.
In contests for statewide office, Yavapai County plays an outsize role. Along with Mohave and one or two other rural counties, we hold the key to Republican victories. As the demographics of Arizona change, the conservative vote from rural areas becomes indispensable to Republican victories. In 2020, President Trump lost Arizona by ten thousand votes. Abe Hamadeh lost the Attorney General race by just a few hundred votes. A little higher turnout in rural counties might have reversed those results. Yavapai County Republicans can’t afford to write off any of our Republican colleagues.
At the state level, the last six years have witnessed a political transformation. As recently as 2018, both of Arizona’s US Senators—Flake and McSally– were Republicans. Today both of Arizona’s US Senators are Democrats. In state level offices Democrats control the Governor’s Office, the Secretary Of State and the Attorney General. Four of Arizona’s nine congressional seats are held by Democrats. The Mayor’s office in Arizona’s two largest cities—Phoenix and Tucson, are in Democrat hands. And they are within one seat of ending twenty years of Republican control of the Arizona House and Senate.
In Yavapai County where virtually every local office is held by a Republican, it’s easy to forget that rural Arizona doesn’t look like and doesn’t vote like the rest of the state. We’re older, whiter, and more socially conservative than most Arizona voters. In this year’s general election, with Propositions 139 and 140, Democrats have shrewdly put popular initiatives on abortion and open primaries on the ballot. These issues are not just popular with liberal Democrats. Many Independents and moderate Republicans support them as well. Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin is the architect of Prop 140, the open primary initiative. Over the years he’s won a lot of elections. Conservatives may be appalled at the idea of open primaries. But across the state, a lot of smart people, including Republicans, are betting that Prop 140 will pass. The only way to stop it is a huge vote against it from Yavapai and other rural areas of the state. On the abortion issue, national and statewide polls have shown that most women, including many Republican women, support reproductive rights. Prop 139 which will enshrine abortion rights in Arizona’s state constitution is favored to pass.
At the national level, President Trump and JD Vance are taking a more moderate position on abortion. There is a huge risk that the outpouring of support for a woman’s right to choose will swamp conservative Republicans in statewide races. Is this the hill we want to die on? As a Catholic conservative, I support the sanctity of life and oppose abortion in principle. But I also think abortion is a matter of personal morality. I don’t push my views on others or seek to enforce them through the police power of the state. With all respect to the Center for Arizona Policy and other right to life absolutists, they are leading the Republican party to a defeat that will cost us everything.
On November 7th, Yavapai County Republicans will play a critical role in the outcome of statewide elections. Those who didn’t get what they want in the primary—and that includes the 15,500 voters who supported me for County Attorney—need to remember what’s at stake. Like Governor Ducey, as honorable Republicans, we need to turn out and support Republican candidates “up and down the ballot.”
