Republican senator says Arizona GOP chairwoman should resign over school voucher comments

An ongoing controversy swirling around the state’s school voucher program has reignited an internal feud in the Arizona Republican Party, leading two GOP officials to call on party Chairwoman Gina Swoboda to resign.

Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman and former lawmaker Liz Harris are trying to oust Swoboda after she voiced support for increasing oversight of the state’s school voucher program.

After 12News reported that voucher dollars were being spent on questionable purchases like lingerie and jewelry, Swoboda told the local television station “we need risk-limiting audits; we need to do something to make sure this is cut off.”

Many of those purchases were approved under a Department of Education policy that automatically greenlights reimbursements under $2,000. That policy was adopted to clear a months-long backlog. Those purchases could later be “clawed back” if needed, according to the department.

To reform or not to reform?

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Hoffman and Harris, both elected national committeemen in the state party, issued a joint statement calling on Swoboda to resign for her comments about the ESA program, amongst other grievances.

They said her remarks amount to “misconduct” by the party chair and an attack on the voucher program, also called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.

“Gina Swoboda’s recent Katie Hobbs-style attacks on Arizona’s signature school choice program are deeply troubling and a gift horse for Democrats in the 2026 election,” they said in a joint statement.

“Arizona Republican grassroots deserve a Chairman who fights for their conservative values, not one that parrots the liberal media talking points to attack school choice,” Hoffman and Harris said.

Swoboda said she supports “school choice for parents,” but that the potential for a misuse of funds has grown alongside the program, which saw enrollment increase from 11,000 before Republican lawmakers expanded the program to all students in the state to 90,311 today.

“If we want the public to support the expansion moving forward, it is important to act as quickly as we can to put up guardrails implementing risk limited audits to help protect funds while we staff up,” Swoboda told KJZZ. “As with any government program, sometimes people misuse benefits. Arizona will continue to lead on school choice and we will protect taxpayer funds as we do so.”

For years, Arizona’s top Democrats have called for changes to the voucher program, from increasing guardrails to prevent illegal purchases to a full repeal of universal expansion.

The Republicans who control the state Legislature have largely blocked those efforts, arguing they are actually attempts to undermine the program.

But, last year, some Republicans like Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) backed a plan to provide funding for additional staff at the Arizona Department of Education to review purchases. Superintendent Tom Horne has long said the Department doesn’t have enough staff to provide adequate oversight.

Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives passed a spending plan earlier this year that included $2 million to add additional staff members. However, that budget failed due to opposition from the Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and most Republicans in the Arizona Senate — leaving ADE with just 12 people overseeing purchases.

When asked if families should be allowed to use vouchers to buy lingerie and jewelry, Hoffman argued existing state statute provides adequate oversight of the voucher program.

“The current law is clear that expenses must have educational value, and the power to deny expenses without educational value rests with the State Superintendent, Tom Horne, who has been a total disaster as Superintendent,” said Hoffman, who has long criticized Horne for being too aggressive in policing voucher purchases.

Hoffman is backing current State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who is running against Horne in 2026.

A GOP schism

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The voucher fight is the latest volley in an ongoing spat between Hoffman and Swoboda, who first took over the Arizona Republican Party in 2024. She then sought re-election at the behest of President Donald Trump, who vocally supported Swoboda during a public appearance in Phoenix after his electoral victory last year.

Earlier this year, Swoboda narrowly won re-election at the Arizona GOP’s annual meeting, defeating former state lawmaker Corey McGarr.

During his single term in the Legislature, McGarr was a member of Hoffman’s Arizona Freedom Caucus, and he said he was recruited to challenge Swoboda by Hoffman and Harris, who was expelled from the Legislature in 2023 for inviting a witness to present false charges about lawmakers and other state officials to a legislative committee.

Swoboda did not mince words when asked about Hoffman and Harris’ attempts to oust her.

“Hoffman and Harris are little more than low-rent grifters with sordid histories who want to destroy the Republican Party in Arizona,” she said. “Their pathetic self-aggrandizing attacks on Republicans are so common and predictable that they ceased to be taken seriously long ago.”

Hoffman indicated he is actively working to remove Swoboda.

“Dozens of key Party leaders from around the state have reached out to me in the past 24 hours about beginning the removal process,” he said. “She barely won re-election to the position, despite having President Trump’s endorsement, and this latest onslaught of failures and unforced errors has further demonstrated to the State Committee that she is totally unfit to continue serving in a leadership role for the Republican Party.”

According to Arizona Republican Party bylaws, an elected party leader can be removed at any time by a vote of members of the state committee.