Q&A: Gina being Gina

Gina Swoboda has wanted to be many things in her life. Based on how she speaks about her two-year stint as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, that job wasn’t a long-dreamed-of role.

So how does a once-nonpartisan public servant become the party boss?

To help explain Swoboda’s winding road, let’s go back even further. When she was young, she was fascinated by the pharaohs and wanted to be an Egyptologist. At Queens College, she was studying to be a music producer, but she lost her internship at A&R Recording because she spent too much time with her now-husband and flunked algebra class.

We know this because she told us. We sat down with Swoboda at Malegria Latin Cafe on a warm Friday morning, where she ordered a breakfast burrito and a choco-banana latte.

Whether you love her or hate her, it’s hard to deny that the Queens native is a straight-shooter — and strikingly different from the politicians of today’s Republican Party. That’s because she wasn’t trained as one.

In January, Swoboda handed off the reins of the state’s GOP to Sergio Arellano after deciding to make her first-ever run for elected office. She launched a campaign for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, who seems to have an affection for his fellow Queens native — even though the MAGA faithfuls who worship him despise Swoboda.

But after Trump also issued a second endorsement to former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely, Swoboda pivoted and decided to run for the office where she made her bones as a staffer: secretary of state.

She’s already gone on the attack against her primary opponent, GOP Rep. Alex Kolodin, who announced his candidacy by claiming that Swoboda had endorsed him in an apparent ploy to prevent Swoboda from running.

Kolodin, a lawyer, has become notable for being reprimanded by the State Bar of Arizona for making claims of massive election fraud in a case without presenting evidence. He also represented the Arizona Republican Party in a lawsuit against Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, but had to settle the case when it became evident he misunderstood the law and the office’s responsibilities.

Swoboda, however, is quite familiar with both. As the campaign finance director, Swoboda worked under both Republican and Democrat secretaries of state and gained a reputation as a reliable, detail-oriented administrator who left politics at the door.

In many ways, she’s a journalist’s dream politician.

She has a tendency to answer questions directly and speak about topics before being asked about them — upending the usual Q&A format. Bouncing from topic to topic, she’s likely to toss in any number of eclectic cultural references to make a point.

That’s evident on her Twitter feed, which recently has included retweets of the Lord’s Prayer, a George Harrison music video, the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling, missing juvenile reports from police departments, upbeat inspirational tweets and pro-Trump content.

Here are select bits of our wide-ranging interview with Swoboda, lightly edited for clarity. It was so much fun that we decided to let it take over today's whole edition.

So, they want to kill me, and they’re going to keep trying to kill me. And I think the fear is that if, like, I got elected being a regular person with independent views within the structure of the party, then that would kill their whole bullying technique. Because I find them just to be aggressive, bullying assholes.

If somebody succeeds just being themself, then that’s going to be a signal to everybody that it’s okay to be human and to treat people with respect. You don’t have to be mean and nasty and doctrinaire in your views.

Until our people want to win more than they want to be right or more than they want to be the most pure ideologically, we’re gonna keep losing.

The lobbying and the campaign finance systems are a shit show. Those are 50-year-old COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) databases.

When I was up there, I was trying to sweep the funds that the lobbyists pay and the campaign finance fines (to fix it). They’re subject to appropriation from the seecretary of state, so that we can actually build the system so that the transparency is there for the public.

Neither the Republican secretary of state (Michele Reagan) nor the Democrat secretary of state (Katie Hobbs) wanted to let me do that. I was trying to connect lobbying and campaign finance. Because if I do that — which they do in other states like Connecticut — it’s then you could look and say, this person took this legislator out for a meal and they’re representing this client on this bill and then that legislator moved that bill, right? You would be able to see that connection.

I think there’s a large part of the party that is addicted to the feeling of being betrayed. I don’t know what kind of endorphin rush or adrenaline surge you get from betrayal. And so, there are people whose whole kind of grift machine is built on finding the reason.

What I did when I was the chair was just, like, listen to people. I did an ad buy on Univision. I went up on Navajo radio. I spent time on the (Navajo) Nation, like, listening to people. And I wanted to know what they cared about and that’s what I talked about, you know?

I killed bad lawsuits that they were trying to file. They were trying to file a Kurt Olson tabulator lawsuit. And then I called the president about that. Everybody I call is like, well, the boss already decided. And I’m like, “does the boss understand the ramifications of you filing this loser fucking lawsuit? I’m going to lose my independents and I’m going to lose my moderate Republicans.”

And so I called (Trump) and I was like, “Sir, please don’t do this.” And he was like, “Okay.” And he killed it.

If you go look, they filed it months later under seal at the Arizona Supreme Court. Fucking lost. Like I knew they were gonna.

I think we’re going to lose the (Arizona) House.

There’s not going to be a coordinated candidate committee, which I did for a million bucks. It was enough to move the needle enough, to move us over.

I love whodunits. I love mysteries. So it’s the dog that didn’t bark, right? It’s the shit that didn’t happen because I’m a nice, boring chair. There was no crazy shit that would draw stray voltage, and that let voters actually focus on the policy and the candidates. If you know who the chair is, something’s gone terribly fucking wrong.

He’s a disaster. He is a disaster. He’s an unethical jerk.

Look at how he walked out, and 26 bills died. He stormed out like a child because he didn’t get what he wanted.

He does not respond well under pressure. That job is nothing but pressure.

You have zero control over elections. Elections are run by the counties. You know, the manual is important and (the Secretary of State’s Office) has their own Logic and accuracy testing and a candidate. But they don’t run elections.

It’s like being a chair: If everything goes perfectly, you get no credit. If anything goes wrong anywhere, it’s your fault.

I’m not going to allow Alex Kolodin to lie to people about what our election process is.

I disagree with him politically, but I like him as a person.

He’s got a temper. He’s an Aries.

A Cancer. I’m all, “is everybody happy?”

I’m so into it. That’s another example of something you’re not supposed to do (in politics) — you’re not supposed to be too into astrology. The serious voters can either like that or not.

I got all my stones on to keep me safe.

I have tea tree oil. I got some tiger’s eye and some aquamarine. I got my jade, my amethyst, my Moroccan and my emerald power stone just in case someone tries to bug me.

I think he likes that I’m not a yes man.

In 2024, I’m just trying to land the plane, land the plane. And I wanted to be done. And (after Trump won the election) I got a call saying, you know, “The boss wants to see you. Come to America Fest in December.” And I’m like, I’m pretty sure I’m banned from AmFest.

Tyler (Bowyer) saw me on the president’s line of three people. And because he’s all projection, he thought I was there to try to get, I guess, an endorsement to be the chair. No, my dude. I was there because I was asked to be there.

He sent Charlie (Kirk) in to interrupt my conversation with the president. And that’s how I wound up back in the chair. They did it. They interrupted my conversation with the president and I didn’t get to tell him anything.

So the very first thing that happens is (Trump) puts his hand up and says, “But I’m telling you, Charlie, she’s part of the reason we won Arizona.”

And I start doing these smirky faces watching (Kirk) burn his political capital. And they’re just having this whole conversation, and I’m just like standing there. ¹

He went out on stage and he put me back in the chair on their microphone. He gets on their stage on their microphone. And he’s like, “Where’s Gina? Yeah, Gina did a great job.” And I’m like, surrounded by people who want me dead. And he’s like, “Are you going to run again? If you run again, we’re going to support you.”

That’s true. And then the machine came and endorsed Jay Feeley, who is not going to win in CD1. Like, I think the environment’s deteriorating so rapidly.

I think it’s the least ideological district in the country. It’s the most highly affluent, highly educated, oldest district. They voted against Kari (Lake) four times. They voted against Trump five out of six times.

I have no idea why we would think a football kicker carpetbagger from Gilbert is magically going to make people who care about policy and want to talk about policy run right out and vote.

I said to the White House, I need to know that the boss man is okay, because I feel like it’s disrespectful. He gave me an endorsement.

But (in that conversation with the White House political team) they were making it really clear — they wanted me out of the way.

So I text him and I’m like, if this is not okay, let me know. And I didn’t hear back.

I said to White House political (staffers), “I don’t want you to give me the endorsement and then take it from me because I don’t agree with everything you’re doing. And in fact, I see a lot of things I think are coming that I’m not going to agree with. So don’t do that.”

I do not want to federalize our elections. I do not want the DOJ to tell us who’s on the voter rolls. I have read Article I, Section Four of the Constitution.

It’s up to us how we vote. It’s not their business to tell us not to vote by mail. That’s up to the voters of Arizona.

That’s how I won last year (in 2024). I banked 200,000 early votes. They never caught us.

I was doing ads: “Vote early. Don’t get jammed up in Maricopa County.”

In Arizona, we got two congressional seats in the top five targets of the (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee): (congressional districts) one and six.

In CD1, are ICE raids helpful? No. These are affluent communities that care about these people who help take care of their families and their lives, and they know these people.

Okay, what about in six? Is that really great down in Tucson for (Republican U.S. Rep.) Juan Ciscomani?

It’s a problem to me if I’m standing in the public right-of-way, and I'm not obstructing you, and you roll down the window and spray me. Then you're shooting people and you're saying things like you can’t bring a gun to a protest. Well, yes, you fucking can.

All you're doing is alienating the voters that you would have — the independents — good people that don't want to see people get hurt.

Vinyl. I still have massive amounts of vinyl.

CDs came out when I was 17. And I find them flat. And I have my cassettes and stuff, but tapes don’t last. The vinyl lasts. And there’s a depth to it to me that I don’t get elsewhere.

I have a Fisher rack (sound) system, which is 220 amps per channel.

“Hot Rocks” — The Rolling Stones

“Escape” — Journey

“Rumours” — Fleetwood Mac

“Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)” — The Eagles

“Bringing Down the Horse” — The Wallflowers

(Notable mention): “I love the single Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House. I could listen to that song every minute of every day from now until the day I die and not have any other song, and I’d still be happy.”

Aitutaki. It’s the most beautiful place on Earth. (The water) is bright blue. I also love islands, and I have a goal to see every island. I love the beach.

Unfortunately, because I’m a high-strung person, it takes me three or four days to decompress.

Stephanie Zimbalist played a character called Laura Holt in the 80s show “Remington Steele.”

She opens up a detective agency and no one comes because she’s a woman. Then she creates this fake character, Remington Steele, who she designs like James Bond.

And then everybody starts knocking down her door to hire her as a detective. Pierce Brosnan is like a flim-flam man who just assumes the identity, and then she gets stuck with him.

I feel like Laura Holt. I feel like you’re doing all this work behind the scenes, which is fine, and then there’s just various people out there taking credit for everything. I can live with that to a certain point — until they start to break shit, at which point I become very agitated.

So now I’m trying to break, I guess, out of the Laura Holt thing and see if I can, on my own volition, not because someone drafted me to do it, go and be the person in the front.

So we’re going to find out.