Arizona Republican voters have advanced a wide slate of election deniers to the November ballot, including the party’s nominees for the state’s three highest statewide offices. They are not the only candidates associated with election conspiracy theories who moved on to the general election.

Arizona has long been central to election conspiracy claims that became a defining feature of the modern Republican Party under President Donald Trump, who has spent much of the past decade focused on false allegations of election fraud. As the idea that elections are filled with fraud — particularly when Democrats win — has moved from fringe online spaces into mainstream GOP politics, candidates who embrace or promote those claims have gained elected power.

The statewide races carry particular significance because Arizona’s governor, secretary of state and attorney general all have roles that touch elections, election law or the certification and defense of election results. The secretary of state is Arizona’s chief election officer, the attorney general can pursue or defend election-related legal matters, and the governor signs or vetoes election legislation.

Those views, however, are becoming less popular with voters as issues such as affordability and the war in Iran take greater prominence.

“It is not sustainable, and people do not have an appetite for it. People want to have our elections be a process that helps us pick our leaders and then they want our leaders to lead for us,” Alex Gulotta, All Voting is Local Action’s Arizona state director, told the Arizona Mirror. “It is not winning people’s hearts and minds.”

Even so, the number of election deniers seeking office is increasing in Arizona and nationwide, according to Kelly Rader, research director at States United Action, a nonpartisan nonprofit that supports state officials who protect elections and has tracked election deniers since 2022.

Arizona is one of four states — along with Colorado, Wisconsin and Tennessee — with three or more election deniers running for statewide office, according to the group’s analysis at

Rader’s research found that nearly 75% of states have an election denier running for statewide or congressional office. The data identified 139 such candidates nationally, including 21 candidates for governor, nine candidates for secretary of state and eight candidates for attorney general.

“Election denial is a comprehensive strategy to undermine trust in our elections so that Trump and his allies can challenge election results they don’t like,” Rader said. “As we move through the primaries and sprint toward the fall, we expect that Trump will continue pushing the same old election conspiracy theories. And we are closely watching which election denier candidates echo those claims in the months to come.”

Gulotta said Trump’s continued rejection of the 2020 election results has encouraged other candidates to use similar rhetoric.

“I think as long as the president of the United States and his cronies are acting in a way that seeks to prevent voting and is really focused on denying the results of elections, we will continue to see this,” he said. “I am hoping we will grow out of it soon, hopefully another cycle or two.”

Rader said false claims about election results have broad consequences, though she also pointed to work by election administrators to educate voters and counter conspiracy theories.

“Efforts to undermine confidence in legitimate election outcomes don’t just threaten individual races; they erode voter confidence and threaten one of the most important limits on presidential power,” she said. “The good news is that election officials across the country are educating voters, rebuilding trust, and working to ensure another free and fair election this year.”

Election denial is not the only conspiracy-related issue appearing on Arizona ballots. This year’s slate includes candidates associated with QAnon, former workers from the partisan 2021 election “audit” and other figures who have promoted conspiracy claims. Some are familiar to many Arizona voters, while others are entering electoral politics for the first time.

The old guard

The top of Arizona’s Republican ticket includes several figures who have been involved in election-related conspiracy activity since 2020.

U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs won the Republican primary for governor and will face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. After Trump lost his 2020 reelection bid to Joe Biden, Biggs was prominent in Arizona and in Congress in efforts associated with “Stop the Steal.” He joined fellow Arizona Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar in casting doubt on the 2020 election results and made claims of voter disenfranchisement that were not supported by evidence.

Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers said Biggs called him on the morning of January 6 and asked him to sign a letter calling for the decertification of Arizona’s electors. Biggs, who voted to reject electoral votes for Biden from Arizona and other battleground states, later allegedly sought a pardon from Trump for his involvement.

Two other prominent election deniers will also appear at the top of the Arizona ballot.

State Rep. Alexander Kolodin, who won the Republican primary for secretary of state, has long promoted unfounded claims about Arizona elections. Kolodin was one of the key attorneys for Trump’s campaign in challenges to the state’s 2020 election results and has represented several prominent election deniers.

The Arizona State Bar sanctioned Kolodin in 2023 for his role in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election that made implausible claims of massive election fraud without evidence. He represented Trump’s campaign in the Arizona version of the so-called “kraken” lawsuit, which relied on claims from people with no direct knowledge of the elections. While serving in the legislature, Kolodin has pushed broad changes to Arizona election laws that were largely rooted in election conspiracy theories.

Republican attorney general nominee Warren Petersen, the current president of the Arizona Senate, is also on the statewide ticket. Petersen and former Senate President Karen Fann oversaw the partisan “audit” conducted by the Senate in 2021 to search for fraud in Maricopa County’s 2020 election. The review found no evidence of fraud and concluded that Biden won the election in the state’s largest county.

Earlier this year, Petersen turned over material from that election review to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Other prominent election deniers also won their primaries, including Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff. In addition to saying she believes the 2020 election was fraudulent, Rogers has engaged with white nationalists and other extremists.

Rogers is also likely to be joined again in the Senate by Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, who has openly embraced QAnon and spread conspiracy theories about the Department of Child Safety.

In its simplest form, QAnon is a conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles runs a global sex-trafficking ring, controls world governments and is trying to bring down President Donald Trump, who is portrayed in the theory as single-handedly dismantling the cabal.

Farnsworth and Rogers are also set to be joined by Sen. Janae Shamp, who has posted QAnon material and attended the January 6 insurrection. Shamp ran uncontested in her primary.

Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is another prominent election denier who won a primary. Lamb worked with other far-right sheriffs and a group connected to the widely debunked film “2000 Mules” to police polling locations in 2022. He won his primary despite lurid allegations about his sex life and the release of a racist chat he had with a border vigilante.

If Lamb wins the general election — an outcome the source described as likely because his district is deep red — he would join fellow election denier U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh. Hamadeh unsuccessfully claimed that election fraud caused his 280-vote loss to Kris Mayes in the 2022 race for attorney general.

The new class

Alongside Arizona’s better-known promoters of conspiracy theories are newer candidates seeking political power.

Michelle Altherr is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Brian Fernandez in Democratic-leaning Legislative District 23. Altherr worked on the partisan election “audit” and has cited that experience as one of the main reasons she entered politics. She has long appeared at Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings, where she has spread unfounded claims of election fraud.

James Rogers, another new figure, won his primary for the state House of Representatives in Legislative District 10. Rogers has represented Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a known election denier, through the America First Legal law firm, which was founded by top Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

America First Legal was also behind an unsuccessful lawsuit that sought to change how Arizona counties use drop boxes and maintain voter rolls.

Mylie Biggs, Andy Biggs’ daughter, won an uncontested race to represent Legislative District 14 in the state Senate. During an appearance last year on The Matt MacCurdy program, she said she does not believe women should hold public office. On the same podcast, the younger Biggs said she has a fondness for conspiracy theories and told the host not to get her “started on 9/11.”

The general election will test how far candidates tied to election denial can advance beyond Republican primary electorates in a state where recent statewide contests have been closely watched nationally and where election administration has remained a recurring political flashpoint since 2020.

Early voting for the general election begins on Sept. 19 for military and overseas voters. Early voting for all other voters begins on Oct. 7. The last day to register to vote and apply for an early ballot is Oct. 5. Voters can find more information and register at