Trump-endorsed State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) faced off against Democratic former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes in a debate Thursday evening hosted by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission on KAET PBS. Most of the lively exchange focused on the candidates’ stark differences regarding voter fraud, with Fontes more dismissive and Finchem stating election integrity is a priority.
Finchem said in his opening statement that he is running due to what’s happened to the office under the current officeholder, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor. He said he wants to “restore honor, integrity, and security” to the position. “It’s not up to the secretary of state to make the law, they enforce the law that’s already laid down.” In addition to other controversies, Hobbs has been involved in a high-profile legal disputewith Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for making changes to the state’s Election Procedures Manual that Brnovich asserts are outside her authority.
Fontes said he’s running because “democracy is a decision.” He implied that Finchem would usher in an era of “conspiracies that lead to corruption and chaos.” Even though the secretary of state position does not deal with abortion, he went off on a rant about how his three daughters “deserve to make their own choices” and said he would discuss it further into the debate (which he did not). Democrats have made the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal a central issue for the midterm elections.
Moderator Ted Simons asked the candidates if they would have certified the 2020 presidential election in Arizona. Finchem responded and said “there are too many hypothetical questions” to answer the question, pointing out that “we didn’t know” about a lot of the issues until “after the certification had occurred.” However, “Knowing what we know today, certain counties’ results should have been set aside like Maricopa and Yuma,” there were “so many votes outside of the law.”
Finchem referred to the ballot harvesting scandal in Yuma, where two people, including the former mayor of San Luis, pleaded guilty to the class 6 felony. The documentary 2,000 Mules featured a whistleblower from that operation.
Continue Reading: https://arizonasuntimes.com/2022/09/24/accusations-fly-between-finchem-fontes-during-arizona-secretary-of-state-debate-focused-on-voter-fraud/
(The Gateway Pundit) Debate For Arizona Secretary Of State Between Trump-Endorsed Mark Finchem And Shady Former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes
“Trump-Endorsed Arizona Secretary Of State Nominee Mark Finchem participated in a debate last night with former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes on the Arizona Clean Elections Debate stage. Adrian Fontes was the Maricopa County recorder during the Fraudulent 2020 election, and he used the County’s dirty voter registration rolls and mass mail-in ballots to rig Maricopa County’s elections.”