Arizona’s Republican Party has announced a new chair after Jeff DeWit’s abrupt resignation over a leaked audio. The controversial leaked tape showed Dewit offering MAGA diehard Kari Lake money if she left politics for some years. After the controversy, Lake nominated Gina Swoboda, another right-winger who Trump endorsed.
She nominated the new chair at a GOP meeting in north Phoenix on Saturday, January 27, 2024. However, the MAGA diehard was reportedly met with boos and jeers as she took the stage. Regardless, that didn’t stop Swoboda from winning most of the votes and clinching the party chair in a landslide.
According to sources, Swoboda runs the nonprofit Voter Reference Foundation. She was also the Trump campaign’s state Election Day director in 2020. Hence, Swoboda’s group aided in spreading false claims about the election system’s integrity.
Swoboda replaced former party chair DeWit days after he dramatically resigned amid an audio recording scandal involving Lake. In a leaked recording that emerged via Daily Mail, DeWit offered a bribe to Lake. The former party chair asked if Kari Lake would sit out Arizona’s upcoming 2024 Senate race.
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In addition, he told her that there are “very powerful people that want to keep you out.” He also repeatedly asked if any specific compensation would entice her to drop out. However, Lake, on the other hand, told DeWit “that would be immoral” and insisted that he can’t buy her.
Upon his resignation, DeWit accused Kari Lake of editing their conversation and leaking the tape. DeWit also claimed Lake threatened to release a “more damaging” audio recording if he did not resign Wednesday. Despite the allegations, Lake has not publicly responded.
However, her senior advisers, Caroline Wren and Garrett Ventry, said DeWit was making “false claims.” “No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit,” Wren and Ventry said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that Dewit hasn’t recognized how unethical his behavior was and still hasn’t apologized to Arizona Republicans.”
Following his resignation, DeWit, a former Trump campaign chief operating officer and NASA chief financial officer, said the conversation was old. He said it took place in Lake’s home ten months ago while she was an employee of his private business.
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In a statement posted by the Arizona Republican Party on X, DeWit said he believes he “was set up.” He claims the ploy was a bid by Lake “to have control over the state party.” However, Kari Lake’s aides insisted otherwise. “The tape speaks for itself,” Lake’s aides, Wren and Ventry, said.
“The Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit attempted to bribe Kari Lake.” “Thankfully, Kari is an extremely ethical person who rejected DeWit’s multiple attempts to offer her money,” they added. “She will be an incredible senator for Arizonans.”
The crowning of Swoboda as the new party leader in Arizona signals a shift toward far-right control of the party. Lake, whom Trump endorses, is currently the frontrunner in clinching the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Arizona. She’s to face Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who’s running for the Democratic nomination, in the general elections.
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