Trump-backed Republicans sweep Arizona primaries in key 2024 races

Arizona Republicans handed Donald Trump a broad win in a state that could help decide control of Congress and the rules of voting itself. Former Cardinals kicker Jay Feely won the GOP nomination in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, Republicans picked a Trump-backed nominee for governor to face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, and Alex Kolodin won the secretary of state primary.

Feely’s victory came in one of the country’s most competitive House districts, a seat tied to Rep. David Schweikert and left open after Schweikert chose to run for governor instead of the House again. Trump endorsed Feely, a former professional football player whose celebrity helped make him the most visible contender in a race that now heads into a high-stakes general election.

The governor’s contest is equally loaded. Hobbs will face a Republican nominee backed by Trump, putting another test of the former president’s sway at the center of a statewide race that will shape Arizona’s direction on public policy, budget choices and voting access. Arizona primary voters were already set to choose nominees for governor, secretary of state and House races that could help determine control of the chamber.

Kolodin’s win keeps election administration at the center of the political fight. He is identified with the party’s election-denial wing, and his nomination gives Republicans a chance to put that faction in charge of the office that oversees elections in a state that has been a national battleground since 2020.

That same dynamic was visible in Arizona’s 2022 primaries, when Republicans also nominated candidates for governor and secretary of state who rejected the legitimacy of the 2020 election. A Brennan Center for Justice analysis has said support from a state’s Republican leaders for election denial appears to be influencing primary outcomes in key battleground races, and Arizona’s results fit that pattern closely.