Team —
I wanted to send along a quick update on Mark Finchem, the terrifying new Republican nominee for AZ secretary of state.
On Tuesday night, as results were coming in, early returns looked bad for one of Finchem’s far-right allies. So he turned to the Big Lie playbook and immediately started casting doubts on the legitimacy of the election, telling folks: "I've got people all over the state saying, ‘I've gotten ballots that I didn't ask for.’"
If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s one of the Trump team’s biggest false accusations about 2020. (And to this day, no one has ever provided evidence to back up their claims.)
Now, keep in mind that this is a primary election that Finchem himself won. He was willing to deploy conspiracy theories that call into question an election he had just won — all to help out a friend. We don’t need to speculate about what he’ll do if he ends up in charge of Arizona’s elections. He’s showing us he’s going to help Donald Trump steal the presidency.
The way to crush that plan is to defeat Finchem in November, but we need to move fast. Will you chip in right now to ramp up our operation for the final months of this election?
Thanks — more soon,
Amy
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Amy McGrath
Date: Wed, Aug 3, 2022
Subject: The most horrifying Republican nominee yet
Team —
Late last night, the news broke that Arizona Republicans have nominated Mark Finchem as their candidate for secretary of state.
That result is a disaster for democracy — and it could get so, so much worse.
Finchem is a self-proclaimed member of the Oath Keepers militia and a hand-picked “America First” candidate whose entire platform is hinged on Trump’s Big Lie. If he is put in charge of elections in Arizona, he says he wants to give the state legislature the right to overturn election results. He’d also ban early voting and severely restrict mail-in ballots (because they blame the ballots for Trump’s loss, not the voters who chose Biden).
Trump is still not over the fact he lost Arizona — that’s why he called the secretary of state election there “the most important race in the United States.”
It’s a race that we must make sure they lose. The American SOS Project has a plan to do exactly that — and we want to go all in. Will you rush in a donation right now to help ramp up our AZ efforts and help make sure Finchem is defeated?
Here’s the scariest part of a Finchem nomination. He told a crowd of supporters this summer that, if he loses in November: “Ain’t gonna be no concession speech coming from this guy.”
This is coming from a guy who was caught on camera near the steps of the Capitol on January 6th. As someone who’s served this country, I'll tell you that people like Finchem and Trump make me sick. They wrap themselves in the flag, spit out phrases like “America First,” but they have zero understanding or respect for the core tenants that make our country great in the first place. The part that makes America so unique on the world stage and throughout history is that we figured out a way to make democracy work. A key part of that is, when you lose an election, you step aside and make room for the person who won. Until now.
Trump and Finchem want to break our democracy and make elections work only for them. That should alarm every single one of us, because they only need to succeed once for the whole system to fall apart.
That’s why I refuse to let them win — not in Arizona, not in Michigan, not in Nevada, not anywhere these anti-democracy candidates rear their heads. If you’re with me, chip in right now and let’s make sure they lose.
Thank you,
Amy
