In a debate Wednesday night, three Arizona Republican congressional candidates discussed ending mail-in voting and pledged to support President Trump’s agenda.
The candidates are vying to represent Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, which encompasses Scottsdale, Cave Creek and north Phoenix.
It’s currently represented by Republican David Schweikert, who’s running for governor.
The GOP candidates are former state legislator Joseph Chaplik, political newcomer John Trobough and former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely.
Only Feely holds Trump’s endorsement, and he says the most important thing for him to do in Congress is codify Trump’s actions into laws.
“It’s why the president reached out to me. It’s why he endorsed my campaign. It’s why Speaker (Mike) Johnson and the rest of Republican leadership reached out to me and said, ‘We need you in this district, because we need to make sure it stays a Republican seat,’” Feely said.
Chaplik noted that he’s the only candidate with experience, having served five years in the state Legislature.
He said his day one issue will be cutting down government.
“Our country is $2 trillion in debt every budget cycle. We need to cut that waste, fraud and abuse and stop the overspending. We have a spending problem,” he said.
Trobough describes himself as a Reagan conservative and also focused on the need to reduce federal debt and improve the economy.
On the issue of election integrity, Feely advocated for making Arizona’s elections more like Florida’s — a concept pushed this year by state Republican legislators — to get election results faster. The main piece of that proposal would alter Arizona’s election timeline, not letting voters drop off mail-in ballots past the Friday before election day.
Chaplik agreed Arizona should get faster results. He also said he opposes mail-in voting, and said people should only be able to vote on election day or get absentee ballots.
“Mail-in ballots I don't believe in,” Chaplik said.
Trobough said he doesn’t see a problem with mail-in voting.
Data centers
Chaplik said he supports data centers, but not in CD1. He argued the constituents don’t want them there either.
Trobough said it’s crucial that Arizona has enough data centers, AI development and energy to sustain it. He joked the district should be the gateway to the global economy, not the bachelorette party capital of the world.
Feely said he vehemently supports data centers.
Rivalry
Chaplik accused Feely of being in cahoots with a political action committee that put up signs with an AI picture of Chaplik and said AI deepfakes are stealing people’s identity.
Feely denied involvement with the signs, which were put up by Conservatives for Effective Government, and accused Chaplik of lying.
Feely also defended himself for changing his stance on guns. Now, Feely says he supports the 2nd Amendment. He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized the importance of having armed civilians when government oversteps, and recalled walking through his community armed with a gun during Black Lives Matter protests when people in his neighborhood believed their community would be the target of an attack.
In a previous debate hosted by PBS, Feely went after Trobough and called him a Democrat and an “Obama baby.”
But the atmosphere on Wednesday was overall more friendly.
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