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CNN
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Former President Barack Obama was blunt concerning the stakes in Arizona when he campaigned for Democrats on the midterm poll this previous week.
If Republicans win key workplaces within the state, mentioned Obama, “democracy as we all know it might not survive in Arizona. That’s not an exaggeration. That could be a reality.”
He’s not fallacious.
In response to The Washington Publish, 12 of the 13 Republican nominees for federal and state workplace in Arizona this 12 months have questioned the outcomes of the 2020 election.
That very a lot contains Kari Lake, the get together’s nominee for governor. Lake has develop into a favourite of the Trumpist wing of the get together because of her clean digital camera presence (she was a neighborhood TV anchor for years). She is even touted as the feminine model of the previous president (though I’d argue Lake is extra strategic and extra on message than Trump has ever been).
The most important factor she shares in frequent with Trump is that election denialism sits on the core of her messaging. She has repeatedly referred to as the 2020 election “stolen” and mentioned that had she been governor, she wouldn’t have licensed the outcome within the state.
Lake additionally has not dedicated to accepting the outcomes of her race. “I’m going to win the election, and I’ll settle for that outcome,” she informed CNN’s Dana Bash lately.
Lake is much from alone. Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters has pushed a number of conspiracy theories concerning the 2020 election. Mark Finchem, the GOP nominee for secretary of state, has instructed there are votes in some counties that ought to have been put aside due to supposed irregularities.(There has by no means been any proof put ahead of mentioned irregularities.)
Arizona is then, as Obama mentioned, one thing of a pure litmus take a look at: Is election denialism one thing that voters are, at minimal, keen to simply accept of their candidates? Or is it one thing that appeals these candidates to voters?
And if the likes of Lake and Finchem are in command of the election equipment come 2024, is there any hope of a good and clear end in one of many doubtless swing states of the following election?
The Level: Tuesday is a defining second within the historical past of Arizona. It’s a second the place democracy may be very a lot on the road.