Voters sent a host of extremists and conspiracy theorists to the AZ Capitol

Photo by Gloria Rebecca Gomez | Arizona Mirror

Arizona has been a hotbed for conspiratorial and extremist ideology, and a number of incoming lawmakers — some returning to the Capitol and others who will be new legislators — will likely continue that trend. 

A number of lawmakers who will be at the state Capitol in the coming months have amplified everything from QAnon to white nationalists to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Some have even touted their support for and participation in anti-government extremist groups. 

These lawmakers, some of whom are in leadership positions for the GOP majority, will be key in driving the agenda in the legislature for the next two years.

The Senate

Incumbent Republican Sen. David Farnsworth, a dyed-in-the-wool QAnon believer, handily won re-election. Farnsworth has been known for being a champion of conspiracy theories and became something of a hero to the political fringe.

In 2019, Farnsworth gave an exclusive interview to the Falun Gong-backed newspaper The Epoch Times about his belief that the state’s child safety agency was behind sex trafficking, making the claim without any evidence. The reporter who conducted the interview has a record of antisemitism, racism and has promoted QAnon.  

In 2020, Farnsworth told the Mirror that QAnon was a “credible group.” He said he had no idea that QAnon had been deemed a domestic terror threat by the FBI more than a year earlier — and he didn’t care.

“Quite frankly, I don’t have time to look into things like that,” he said. 

Farnsworth will be the chairman of the Senate Education Committee. 

He isn’t the only QAnon believing Senator to win re-election this cycle. 

Janae Shamp, who was present during some of the most violent moments of the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted coup, promoted QAnon multiple times on social media. 

Shamp, an ardent supporter of President Trump, has previously denied knowledge of QAnon when asked about her beliefs. Shamp was the co-chair of a controversial special legislative committee which shared the same acronym as a popular QAnon acronym. 

The Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee, or NCSWIC, shared the acronym with the QAnon slogan, “Nothing Can Stop What is Coming,” a phrase parroted by QAnon adherents, suggesting that mass arrests or even executions of members of the “Deep State” would be coming. Shamp called any link between QAnon and the committee a “goofy accusation” despite speakers having connections to QAnon and her own Facebook history of posting QAnon content, including the phrase. 

Shamp will be the co-chair of the Senate Committee on the Military and the Border. She will also be the Senate majority whip, the No. 3 Republican in the chamber. 

Flagstaff Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers, who has been not only boosted QAnon conspiracy theories but has eagerly been interviewed by multiple antisemites, also won her reelection bid. 

The senator has a strong presence on social media, where she has amassed more than 380,000 followers on X and more than 65,000 subscribers on Telegram. She often posts links from far-right websites and personalities, and her posts are often shared by far-right influencers and personalities. 

Since she was elected in 2020, Rogers has become a darling in the Arizona GOP, leveraging support of election conspiracy theories into a national following that she has used to become a fundraising juggernaut. 

Over the years, she has become more ingrained with the far-right, and gone from amplifying their messages to participating in their events. 

In 2021, Rogers appeared multiple times on an online broadcast network that had made multiple antisemitic remarks. The network, TruNews, has a history of spreading antisemitic rhetoric, including a piece in which Rick Wiles, its founder, spent 90 minutes ranting about “seditious Jews” that were “orchestrating” Trump’s impeachment. 

Wiles has also called the Jewish people “tyrants” and claimed that the antichrist will be a “homosexual Jew.”  

Both times she appeared on TruNews, Rogers was interviewed by Lauren Witzke, a conspiracy theorist with a history of antisemitism. Witzke is connected to other known white nationalists and antisemites, participated in a white nationalist youth event in Arizona in 2022 and echoed white nationalist beliefs during an appearance on the white nationalist podcast “No White Guilt,” on which she promoted the “Great Replacement theory.” 

Rogers has also promoted the Great Replacement theory, touted support from the anti-government extremist OathKeepers and delivered a video message at the America First Political Action Conference, a conference hosted by known white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes. Rogers will be the chairwoman for the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Elections. 

Sen.-elect Carine Werner, a Republican who was previously on the Scottsdale Unified Governing Board, has appeared at the Capitol alongside Rogers and others promoting education curriculum created by the right-wing PragerU. The material includes videos where historical figures like Christopher Columbus claim slavery was “better than being killed” and Frederick Douglass claims that the Founding Fathers, who owned slaves, had ending slavery on their “to do” list. 

Werner will co-chair the Senate Education Committee and will be the chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. 

Mark Finchem, who previously served in the Arizona House of Representatives before an unsuccessful run for Arizona Secretary of State, also will be joining the Arizona Senate in January. 

He has long been no stranger to conspiracy theories, and lately has latched onto a QAnon conspiracy theory in Tennessee, where he has admitted to accessing confidential financial information that is tightly controlled by federal law. 

Finchem has often courted those from the fringe and especially those in the QAnon world. He has spoken at their conventions and held fundraisers with known QAnon believers and 9/11 truthers. He has also raised money from the OathKeepers and was present at the Capitol during the events of Jan. 6, 2021. 

The Prescott senator-elect also was instrumental in pushing false narratives around the 2020 election that ultimately led to protesters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Finchem will be the chair of the Senate Federalism Committee. 

The House

The Arizona House of Representatives will see some new and returning conspiratorial minded lawmakers, some in high positions of leadership. 

They include Steve Montenegro, who was elected by his caucus this week to be the new speaker of the House.  

While many may know the lawmaker from the scandal several years ago after reports that he traded sexually explicit texts with a staffer, Montenegro also has been a key behind-the-scenes player in the election denial world. 

Montenegro works for The America Project as its national policy director. The nonprofit group was started by former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne and contributed more than half of the funding for the Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election, putting in more than $3.2 million. 

Byrne has been a leading voice in 2020 election fraud claims and has railed against the so-called Deep State. He was also an attendee of an hour-long meeting at the White House during the final days of Trump’s presidency in which he, Sidney Powell and disgraced retired Gen. Michael Flynn urged the president to overturn the election. 

It was later discovered as well that Montenegro was one of the people who had control over the controversial “Audit War Room” Twitter account to give an “in-state perspective” to the tweets. Montenegro has also appeared alongside Bryne, Flynn and other election conspiracy theorists through his work for The America Project.

And he has helped bring those conspiracy theorists to the state Capitol, being part of the misinformation filled committees about COVID-19, that was supported and promoted by Byrne’s group, as well as President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan. 

Montenegro isn’t the only connection to the Arizona Senate’s “audit” of the 2020 election. 

Former Cyber Ninjas attorney Alexander Kolodin was reelected to the House. The attorney has worked for a number of election deniers and Republican elected officials, including on challenges to the election. 

Kolodin represented QAnon conspiracy theorist Melody Jennings, who was fighting against a temporary restraining order being sought against her group for monitoring drop boxes and harassing voters who used them. Further reporting by the Arizona Mirror found that group to have connections to the OathKeepers and other militias. 

Kolodin was also hired by the Arizona Republican Party in a failed legal challenge to early voting in Arizona that made many claims, including that ballot drop boxes in Arizona were unconstitutional. 

Southern Arizona conservative Rachel Jones also won her re-election bid. Jones is married to prominent election denier Seth Keshel, who has spread a number of falsehoods around the election for a number of years.  Jones has been a proponent of a slew of debunked election conspiracies, and even this year theorized that her GOP seatmate, Cory McGarr, lost his reelection bid because of fraud, despite having no evidence for making such a claim.

Election denial isn’t the only conspiratorial thinking that will be making its way to the Arizona House next session either. 

Rep.-elect Lisa Fink, a Glendale Republican, has worked closely with the Gilbert-based hate-group Family Watch International to try to stop comprehensive sex education in schools. Family Watch International has promoted conversion therapy and claims that transgender people are “mentally ill.”  

Fink worked as a representative for an off-shoot organization of Family Watch International called the Protect Arizona Children Coalition which is against teaching sex education in the state. 

Fink will be joined by other “culture warriors” such as Pamela Carter, sister of original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, who has opposed same-sex marriage and pushed for firearms in schools.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE