Michael A. Chihak opinion: On Nov. 3, deny election deniers

Arizona began turning politically purple in 2020 when Democrats won the presidency. We went bright purple in 2022, as Dems took three top state offices and a U.S. Senate seat, then another Senate seat in 2024.

Red with anger at the results, Republicans put forth and embraced claims of election fraud, and they have embedded falsehoods into this fall’s election campaign. Voters must reject them for their lies.

Candidates for three of the top four state offices are challenging election integrity and the most fundamental right of all U.S. citizens — voting — as they cling to denial of the 2020 presidential election result.

Here’s the record of their perpetuation of false claims of election fraud.

— Andy Biggs, the Republican gubernatorial candidate and a five-term congressman, voted in Congress against certifying Joe Biden’s election as president, opposing legitimate Electoral College votes from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

On social media in 2024, he praised the dismissal of charges against the MAGA president for instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the Capitol, which was aimed at overturning Biden’s election. He also called for “pardon (of) all J6 political prisoners.”

Biggs now denies his denial, saying let’s discuss the future, not the past. He has not, however, disavowed his false claims or actions regarding the 2020 election.

— Alex Kolodin, Republican candidate for secretary of state, is a two-term legislator and a lawyer who filed baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections. For that, the state Supreme Court admonished him, and the Arizona Bar Association placed him on 18 months’ probation, fined him $2,700 and made him take ethics classes.

Kolodin filed one of the infamous “Kraken lawsuits,” named for a mythical sea monster. Appropriate, because his claims were mythical, as a federal judge hinted in dismissing the case. She called it “sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence.”

“The various affidavits and expert reports are largely based on anonymous witnesses, hearsay and irrelevant analysis of unrelated elections,” Phoenix U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said. “Allegations that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court.”

Kolodin, in an Aug. 31 debate with Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, finally conceded Biden’s 2020 victory. Still, his campaign website declares mistrust of election results, which makes him the wrong person to oversee Arizona elections as secretary of state.

— Warren Petersen, Republican candidate for attorney general, is now state Senate president. As Judiciary Committee chair in 2021, he pushed auditing Maricopa County presidential ballots from the 2020 election.

This March, he gave audit records to the FBI, while his campaign website calls for state sovereignty: “The federal government continues to overreach into our state’s affairs.”

Petersen, a fledgling lawyer with no courtroom experience, cannot be trusted to handle any state legal matters, especially those involving elections, because he continues to make unproven claims of voter fraud and denies the 2020 election outcome.

One Republican candidate accepts the outcome. Sine Kerr, Biggs’ running mate for lieutenant governor, was quoted by Phoenix journalist Zach Buchanan on social media on July 31, saying, "It's gone through the courts, and it's been proven that Biden won.”

Of course, she is irrevocably tied to Biggs as his running mate, so his denial cancels her acceptance.

Biggs, Kolodin and Petersen are all dedicated election deniers. Their actions show they bear ill will toward voters and have sinister plans for Arizona.

Come Nov. 3, voters must deny these deniers any place in government.