Mid-Term Election 2022: August 2 Primary, Arizona Edition [UPDATE-2]

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[Updates will appear at the bottom.]

There are a lot out there and will probably still be dribbling in through tomorrow. Use this thread to chat about them. The big one is the Kansas abortion issue, and it looks like the good side has a resounding victory.

In one of the most red states in the Union. Kansas. Go figure. Take that you conservatives at SCOTUS.

~ ~ ~

Rayne here, taking the reins on this post. Apparently bmaz and I were writing posts about the primaries at the same time.

Let’s use this one bmaz started to focus on his own state, Arizona, because there’s plenty to dish about in the Grand Canyon State.

Biggest story is the GOP primary for the governor’s race. There’s been a big field, eight candidates with three withdrawn; of the eight in the running, there’s one unofficially withdrawn candidate and three write-ins.

What a mess. But now we get to the hot mess.


Kari Lake is a Trumpy Big Lie election truther. I’d use stronger terms here but I don’t want this to reflect on bmaz (though he’s probably thinking what I’m not saying).

How batty does a Trumper have to be for the National Review to exhort AZ GOP voters not to cast a vote for a GOP candidate? Kari Lake is that bad. She wants to decertify the 2020 election results and call it for Trump even though doing so might jeopardize a 2024 run for Trump.

Fortunately, AZ voters appear to be paying heed. Lake has been behind GOP opponent Karrin Taylor Robson all evening.

Let’s hope the final results resemble these early numbers.

More results as they come in from the dry heat.

~ ~ ~

bmaz observes long-time sportscaster Vin Scully has died.

Scully called games for the Dodgers from 1950 to 2016, the longest career of any sportscaster of any sport. He was an institution. He has been and will be missed.

~ ~ ~

Not a good night for QAnon-Arizona in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.


With 43% reported, there’s no realistic way for Watkins to pull out a win let alone a tie coming from the basement.

But I’m sure there will be some spin put on this because the grift never ends. There must be some conspiracy theory which will prop up this fail and bring home the bacon.

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UPDATE-1 — 12:35 PM ET — 03-AUG-2022 —

Oh great, another election truther won their primary — this time for AZ’s Secretary of State.


Mark Finchem was at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. I don’t know if he made it inside the Capitol Building that day; he has not been charged for trespassing.

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UPDATE-1 — 2:15 PM ET — 03-AUG-2022 —

I don’t know about bmaz but I just received my first fundraising email from Sen. Mark Kelly for his re-election campaign based on the outcome of yesterday’s primary.

What’s amusing is that Kelly’s email never mentions Blake Masters by name, only says Kelly now has an opponent. Was this an email drafted before the primary was finished, prepared for any eventually? Or is this Kelly’s campaign helping voters a la Lakoff, not naming the elephant?

Whatever the case, super Trumpy MAGAnoid Blake Masters is now the AZGOP candidate for U.S. Senate opposing incumbent Mark Kelly.

Masters shouldn’t be too glib about his win because of 622,098 total GOP votes cast, 379,218 were not cast for Masters. If those GOP votes are adamantly against Masters, they may not turn up in November for him.

Masters drew fewer votes than AZGOP gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson, who won with 238,486 over super Trumpy MAGAnoid Kari Lake. Compare to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs who won with 311,210 votes.

~ ~ ~

The AZGOP candidate for Secretary of State is the problematic Mark Finchem, an admitted member of the Oath Keepers who was at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. He won over three other competitors, though he shouldn’t be too smug about it. He may have won with 243,403 votes, but there were 350,398 GOP votes cast for other AZGOP candidates.

The outcome of the Democratic primary race for Secretary of State between Adrian Fontes and Reginald Bolding has not yet been determined as 31% of the votes cast are yet to be counted. Fontes currently leads 52.8% to 47.2% over Bolding and is likely to maintain a lead.

Here’s Fontes if you’re not familiar with him:

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9 replies
  2. JMNY says:

    Good on ya, Kansans!

    Dems should demand a referendum on abortion in every state. I doubt voters in any state would vote to ban abortion. Except maybe Wyoming…

    I know that’s harder than it sounds, but let states’ voters decide.

  3. Alan Charbonneau says:

    Kansas bill to remove abortion protection from state constitution.
    Results are from NYT with 76% REPORTED
    No 408,489 +62.2%
    Yes 247,807 +37.8%
    Total 656,296

    Winning 62% to 38% in Kansas means reproductive rights are a potent campaign issue for the midterms. The bill in Kansas was a bill targeting abortion protections in the state constitution. Such bills tend to focus national attention as well as grass roots efforts to get out the vote.

    Candidates advocating for abortion rights in general elections might have a harder time generating the kind of enthusiasm that voting against a horrible piece of legislation does. It’s easy to vote against something you hate, especially an evil piece of legislation. In addition, candidates can too easily get off script, let the opposition choose the battlefield, misspeak/say something dreadful, etc. and it is harder for the opposition to re-frame an issue they themselves are promoting as anti-choice than it is for them to re-frame a candidate

    That said, Roe/Dobbs SHOULD be a major issue in the 2022 midterms and in the 2024 general election as well. It’s a matter of keeping on message and getting abortion access voters out to the polls, Republican suburban women as well as Dems. I think it’s a great opportunity and I hope the Dems don’t botch It.

  4. Rayne says:

    It’s after 1:00 am and I need to hit the hay. I’ll post some updates to this in the morning if bmaz doesn’t beat me to it. Play nice!

  5. dude says:

    I admit to not following the primaries closely, but I wonder how long it will be until the Republicans start complaining that the primaries were “totally rigged elections” because of “Venezuelan voting machines” and “corrupt election workers”. Do we now have free and fair elections again? How’d that happen?

    • Rayne says:

      Check your watch. Should be any time now. Surprised it hasn’t already been used as an excuse in the three Pennsylvania counties where primaries have not yet been finalized.

  6. rattlemullet says:

    RIP Vin Scully. I was a Baltimore Oriole’s fan at 15 years of age in 1966 having snuck my transistor radio into high school to listen through the earphone to the first game of the World Series in LA, Scully called the game. He was the best play by play announcer in the business. Great memory. He will be missed.

  7. Tracy Lynn says:

    Re: Vin Scully. He called the famous (or infamous, if you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan), Catch, Montana to Clark to win the NFC Championship game in 1982.

  8. mospeck says:

    So my kid who wants to be a lawyer says pop, why u listen to old songs and are so off base with the modern times? Don’t know how to answer her. My guess, it’s just old guy general depression and reading too much about Russia v Ukraine, China v Taiwan, GOP v America, and then about the overlord’s plans for home world. But there is also great good news, like the spin prime turbine tests went well and the static fires are coming soon and then we’ll be go for orbit. 2nd one’s more melodic, but 1st one has Toto.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBGGYrFePCk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvAUdwr7Wxg

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