The MAGA Democrat

That's an odd combo ... Election fraud is real ... And that delicious crunchy buzz.

Hey readers,

Today’s top story was a collaboration with our friends at LOOKOUT, a nonpartisan and nonprofit news outlet covering the state’s LGBTQ+ communities.

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But it’s so good that it’s worth paying for.

They’re also a nonprofit, so consider donating if you can afford it.

On July 30, voters in west Phoenix and Glendale will be tasked with choosing between two Democrats that — on paper — appear to complement one another. 

Democratic Rep. Analise Ortiz, a member of the LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus, is running a progressive campaign on housing and criminal justice reform, education and civil rights. Ortiz is attempting to move from one of the House seats in the West Valley’s Legislative District 24 to its Senate seat. 

Her opponent in the Democratic primary, Mario Garcia, is also platforming the same causes, such as women’s rights and access to healthcare. 

But screenshots and social media messages sent to LOOKOUT and the Arizona Agenda show that Garcia has a history of promoting far-right conservative candidates. 

We ran the images through an online detection software that indicates whether an image was manipulated through photo-editing software or artificial intelligence. The images appear to be real. 

In the screenshots provided, Garcia shared multiple Facebook posts from Kari Lake, the far-right candidate who was then running for governor. The posts Garcia shared included favorable articles written about Lake, endorsements and promoting her popularity among Latino voters. He also shared an announcement about Lake’s “Faith and Family Fest,” held in September before the 2022 election.

Garcia didn’t respond to questions about the photos or his alignment with Lake and other far-right candidates, instead directing questions to his campaign director, Patrick Morales, who only responded via email. Morales said Garcia “recently became a citizen and is committed to representing his constituents if elected.”

“Claims that I support Kari Lake and am a secret Republican are unequivocally false,” Garcia said in a written statement that Morales sent. “I met Kari Lake at a business conference with hundreds of other attendees. I've lived in this community for 17 years and have known her as a TV anchor. I do not support Kari Lake or endorse her campaign. I support Ruben Gallego for the Senate seat entirely. Merely posing for a photo does not align me with her extremism.”

A Republican lawmaker confirmed that the event that Garcia was pictured at with Lake was not a business convention, but a “legislative event” specifically for Republicans.¹

Garcia’s two Facebook pages no longer have the shared posts on them, and the photo with Lake has also been removed. 

But it’s not just Lake he appears to support. In screenshots from his Instagram account that were also given to LOOKOUT and the Agenda, Garcia was seen standing next to and holding up a campaign sign for Gary Snyder, a Republican running this year to represent Legislative District 25, which stretches from Yuma to the West Valley, in the House. Snyder has reposted speeches from Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers and photos with Republican Congressman Paul Gosar on his social media, writing of Gosar that the two “think alike.” 

Rogers is a far-right state Senator who called for people to file false reports of child abuse against parents with the state Department of Child Safety if they took their kids to a drag show in Flagstaff last year. Gosar has a long history of aligning with white supremacists.

The photo with Snyder has also been removed from the Instagram account. 

Garcia’s campaign manager said he has no connection with extremist Republicans, “unlike his current opponent who has promoted working with extreme republicans, such as Rep. Alexander Kolodin who is ‘unequivocally pro-life and was proud to be named one of the five most significant threats to Arizona Democrats’ pro-abortion agenda by NARAL Pro-Choice America.’”

Garcia appears to be a long shot of a candidate with little name recognition.

Garcia hasn’t filed his required April 15 campaign finance report, and his latest filing, from February, shows he has no money in his campaign account. But Garcia claimed in a phone call with LOOKOUT that he had $120,000 in campaign funds — which would be more than double what Ortiz’s campaign has in the bank, according to the latest round of campaign finance reports. 

If true, that would be an extraordinary feat, and a hefty war chest for a state Senate run in a noncompetitive district. 

When asked why he hasn’t filed his required campaign finance report, Garcia again deferred to Morales, who wrote in a statement that $120,000 was a “goal of pledged donations from friends and family.”

“His report will be filed soon. He was out of town for work, so there was a delay in getting it turned in on the 15th,” Morales wrote.

Morales managed campaigns for two progressive Phoenix Democrats running for the state House in 2022: Oscar De Los Santos and Patty Contreras, both of whom are also members of the Legislative LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus.

“Voters deserve transparency,” Ortiz said in a text exchange with LOOKOUT. “They should know who is funding candidates’ pocketbooks. The fact that he did not file a finance report shows he does not value the importance of transparency and is deeply concerning to me. It should be deeply concerning to any voter of Legislative District 24 as well. If he’s willing to hide who is funding him, what else is he willing to hide?”

Republican Rep. Austin Smith, a far-right Freedom Caucus member who’s spouted election denial conspiracies for years, has dropped his bid for reelection after being accused of forging voters’ signatures on his nomination petitions. 

A Democrat from Goodyear filed a challenge against Smith on Monday alleging two voters who appeared on Smith’s nomination petitions never signed them, and the signatures “bear a striking resemblance” to Smith’s handwriting.

Three days later, Smith announced on Twitter that he was dropping out of the race. He said while he at first had an “initial adrenaline rush” to fight the case, he just got married, and “we have our plans and aspirations, and none of them involve starting out tens of thousands of dollars in debt as a price of being involved in public service.” 

“We have lost this small battle but we will win the war to save our country,” Smith wrote. 

But while Smith is attempting to choose his battles, it seems this battle might not be done with him. 

Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman released a statement calling for Smith’s resignation and an investigation into the signatures. 

“An investigation will reveal the truth, but this episode tells us something about those who have spread falsehoods with such ease since the 2020 Election … They accuse others of dishonesty so easily because they have no qualms about lying to win a political race or a business deal. Well, I will always tell people the truth… and Austin Smith should leave public service now,” Hickman said. 

The forgery allegations are in the hands of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, per the Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez. The AG’s office told us they couldn’t comment on “the potential for any criminal investigations.” 

And Smith resigned from his job as leader of Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of the Trump-aligned youth group.

The situation is rich with irony for a representative who’s currently vice chair of an ad-hoc committee for “executive oversight” of Attorney General Kris Mayes. 

The concession also puts Republicans in the West Valley’s Legislative District 29 in a precarious situation, with only Republican Rep. Steve Montenegro and Democrat Tanairi Ochoa-Martinez on the ballot for the district’s two House seats. Smith told his followers to write in James Taylor as his replacement in the primary. Any qualified Republican write-in candidate will need at least 527 votes to qualify for the party’s nomination to the November ballot in this Republican district.

Oops Heap did it again: Republican Rep. Justin Heap missed the deadline to file his campaign finance report in his bid for Maricopa County Recorder, a position charged with overseeing campaign finances, the Republic’s Sasha Hupka notes. The misstep adds to Heap’s history of breaking the rules, as he previously submitted a legislative campaign finance report 43 days late without disclosing $2,550 in campaign contributions from the Arizona Association of Realtors.  

Farewells and unfair pay: The Arizona Coyotes are officially leaving the state after the NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the sale of the team to Utah Jazz owners for $1.2 billion, per the Associated Press. Tempe voters rejected a $2 billion development for the team last year, and subsequent bids for a new arena have failed. Speaking of sad sports news, the gender pay gap is extremely evident in Phoenix basketball, as the Phoenix Mercury’s highest-paid athlete, Kahleah Copper, makes about $245,000 compared to Kevin Durant‘s $48.6 million annual salary playing for the Suns, Axios’ Jessica Boehm reports. 

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We’ll never earn as much money as Kevin Durant, but a living wage for two hard-working reporters seems fair. 

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Spending federal money to make federal money: Arizona ranked 49th among all states’ FAFSA completion rates, and only 23% of high school seniors have completed the federal financial aid application, the Republic’s Helen Rummel writes. Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the state is doling out $500,000 to help students complete the application process with federal dollars distributed by the Arizona Board of Regents. A glitch stopped many students with parents who immigrated to the country from applying this year. 

SunZia succeeds: A federal judge denied Native American tribes’ request to stop the $10 billion SunZia transmission line from being built through a remote stretch of southeastern Arizona over the cultural significance of the land, per the Associated Press. The judge said the plaintiffs brought their claims up too late, and the Bureau of Land Management has plans to inventory cultural resources it builds over. Meanwhile, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren asked the tribal government to adopt uranium transportation regulations to require mining companies to notify the tribe before bringing uranium on its land, KJZZ’s Michel Marizco reports. 

We’ll believe it when we see it: The University of Arizona's deficit is estimated to shrink from $162 million to $52 million next year, President Robert Robbins announced in an email to employees, per the Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe. Robbins said the biggest cuts will come from “administrative expenses” and no college will start the next fiscal year in a deficit.  

That’s suspicious: The FBI is investigating Santa Cruz County’s bank accounts after finding irregular bank transfers, Nogales International’s Angela Gervasi reports. County Treasurer Liz Gutfahr abruptly resigned after the county’s deputy manager got a bank alert for suspicious activity, and the county’s paying a $15,000 retainer to a Scottsdale-based law firm to conduct a forensic investigation. 

NBC has the answers to all your burning questions, and one of them ran on the front page of 12News. 

We actually learned a lot from this fact check, like you can eat cicadas, but people with shellfish allergies might have a bad reaction. The bugs are also most delicious before their shells harden, and the best time to scout for a snack is right after dusk. 

1. CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that the event appeared to be a fundraiser for Lake. After publication, we were made aware that the picture was at a legislative event for Republicans held at the same brewery.