Arizona Republican Party may be close to broke. But it has a larger problem
The Arizona Republican Party is down on its luck.
They’re still hanging on to one-vote majorities in the state House and Senate, but they’ll have trouble in 2024 if they don’t get their finances in order.
The Arizona GOP had less than $50,000 in cash reserves as of March 31. That’s not much money to fund crucial expenses such as rent, payroll and campaign operations.
Four years earlier, it had close to $770,000.
The cobwebs in the bank vault aren’t as important as all the money wasted.
The party blew $300,000 on “legal consulting,” much of which focused on overturning Trump’s 2020 defeat. All they have to show for it are a Democratic governor and U.S. Senate delegation.
Both have a problem: Independent voters
As new Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit tries to right the ship (and apply for a credit card or two), he has another worry.
But this is one he shares with Arizona Democrats: the rise of the independents.
As of April, 34.6% of voters are registered as Republicans. This compares well to the 30.3% who are Arizona Democrats. But between the two parties is the growing contingent of the unaffiliated.
Independent voters now account for 34.3% of registered voters in the state. By head count, a net gain of just 10,077 new independents would make them the largest “party” in Arizona.
The reasons for this are pretty obvious. In our angry politics of hot takes and sick burns, a growing number don’t want to be associated with the more, ahem, passionate segments of either party.
Their policy views likely lean more to one side than the other, but independents have little interest in inventing conspiracy theories or screaming in the streets.
We have good reason to leave both teams
Instead of joining the Blue Team or the Red Team, they’re building their own team. This trend will only grow as the younger cohort rises to adulthood and the baby boomers fade away.
We’ve learned from decades of political failure that few politicians or party officials consider themselves to be on our team. Independents are just returning the favor.
Avoiding party membership doesn’t make independents free of political proclivities. They will happily exploit the Reds or Blues to advance their aims.
But they refuse to surrender their individuality to be an extra in someone else’s movie.
Another view: Hobbs goes extreme because GOP lets her
Besides, have you ever sat through a party meeting? God bless the volunteers putting in that work, but I’d prefer a dental gum graft.
Republican leaders only like me when I vote for them or write checks. Democrat bosses are much the same.
But neither view me as an equal, just a pawn from which they extract money and power. That model lost its appeal long ago.
No wonder the AZ GOP is broke
I look at it this way, in sports and in life: When I see the two teams battling on a football field, I’m not going to passively cheer from the stands.
Instead, I’ll head over to the basketball court to start my own game. And, to be honest, once the hoops scene gets too crowded, I’ll walk down to the tennis court and start a game there.
Politicians are temporary employees we hire to do our bidding. If they stink, we fire them. Party chairs have a tough job, but similarly are just means to an end.
If they waste their money on Cyber Ninjas and futile lawsuits, they can’t be shocked when donations dry up.
Arizona GOP funding should go to the only job that matters: winning elections.
If the party had focused on that for the past few years, it would have a lot more cash in the bank.
Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. On Twitter: @exjon.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona GOP may be broke. But it has a larger problem
