A Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, who forcefully defended the integrity of elections in the county and as a result was shunned by some in his own party, lost his primary race on Tuesday.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer lost the GOP primary to Justin Heap, a state representative who has cast doubt on election operations in Maricopa County but has not outright said that the 2020 election was stolen.
Heap is backed by the state’s far-right Freedom Caucus, and he was endorsed by Kari Lake, an election denier who on Tuesday won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Heap will face Democrat Tim Stringham in November.
Election officials in Maricopa County have worked to make the election process more efficient and transparent to the public.
Election officials in Maricopa County, many of whom bore the brunt of baseless accusations from Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 election was stolen, have worked to make the election process more efficient and transparent to the public.
Although Richer had not been involved in running the 2020 election and assumed office only after the right began its campaign of election conspiracy theories, he faced fierce backlash for rebutting claims that the election was stolen, including death threats and calls for his lynching from Maricopa County Republican Committee Chair Shelby Busch. (Several former Trump aides have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in the plot to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona.)
Richer was also accused of election tampering in 2022 after some Republicans, egged on by Trump, amplified false claims of irregularities in the midterm elections. At the time, Lake blamed Richer and another county election official for her loss in the Arizona gubernatorial race. Richer sued Lake for defamation in June 2023. Lake has declined to defend herself against Richer’s claims, and she asked a judge to determine the damages she owes him.
In a post on X conceding the primary on Wednesday morning, Richer congratulated Heap on his win. “Elections have winners and, sadly, losers,” he wrote. “And in this one, it looks like I’m going to end up on the losing side of the column.”
Before he leaves office, Richer will administer the critically important elections in November, including the presidential race, in Maricopa County.
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