Arizona Republicans will elect a party leader on Saturday. Some want to push out current chair

Arizona Republicans won big up and down the ballot in the 2024, but some party members want to oust the chairwoman who oversaw those victories at the state GOP’s annual meeting on Saturday.

Under state law, grassroots members of the Republican Party of Arizona pick a new chairperson every two years. But last January, the party picked Gina Swoboda in a special election to replace Chairman Jeff DeWit, who resigned after less than a full year after a leaked recording showed him attempting to convince Kari Lake to drop out of the race for U.S. Senate.

Under Swoboda’s leadership, the state GOP experienced a largely successful 2024. Republicans won the presidential election in Arizona, increased their majorities in the state Legislature and won two competitive congressional seats.

That led President Donald Trump to endorse Swoboda to remain the party chairwoman.

But some Trump allies still want to replace Swoboda at the annual party meeting on Jan. 25, claiming she didn’t do enough to help candidates like Lake, who lost to Democrat Ruben Gallego in November.

Lake appeared to endorse former state Rep. Corey McGarr – a Tucson Republican who was a member of the Freedom Caucus at the Arizona Legislature before losing his re-election bid to Democratic Rep. Kevin Volk – in the contest after he entered the race.

“Cory is a grassroots legend and he will work tirelessly to achieve true Election Integrity in Arizona,” Lake wrote on social media. “Thanks for getting in this race, [Cory McGarr]."

The Arizona Agenda reported that McGarr’s supporters are upset by Swoboda’s decision to shift party resources away from Turning Point USA, the far-right organization that has ties to state Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Gilbert), who founded the Freedom Caucus.

That includes Swoboda’s decision to cut ties with Superfeed Technologies, a company tied to Turning Point that had developed an app used by the Arizona Republicans in previous years. Critics also point to Swoboda’s decision to pay longtime campaign consultant Chris Baker – called “the swampiest of swamp consultants” by McGarr supporter Merissa Hamilton – to run a campaign to help Republican candidates.

“In less than one year [Republican Party of Arizona] leadership has done everything it can to hand the party to the moderates,” wrote Tyler Bowyer, a director of Superfeed Technologies and COO for Turning Point’s sister organization Turning Point Action. “Anyone who supports that has questionable motives at best – at worst they are a paid operative.”