{"id":2365398,"date":"2024-11-07T05:25:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T10:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizonans-elect-a-conservative-as-maricopas-new-elections-chief\/"},"modified":"2024-11-07T05:25:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T10:25:41","slug":"arizonans-elect-a-conservative-as-maricopas-new-elections-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizonans-elect-a-conservative-as-maricopas-new-elections-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizonans Elect A Conservative As Maricopa&#8217;s New Elections Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farizonans-elect-a-conservative-as-maricopas-new-elections-chief%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2365398&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Voters in Maricopa\u2063 County, Arizona, appear poised to elect\u200d Republican Justin Heap as the new recorder, effectively replacing\u2064 the current officeholder, Democrat Tim Stringham, who has conceded defeat. Heap, a \u200dmember of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, has been\u200d vocal about improving the county&#8217;s election integrity, which has suffered under the leadership of Stephen\u2062 Richer, who previously held the position and was seen \u2063as opposing transparency in elections. Heap expressed relief that the &#8220;laughing stock&#8221; reputation \u2064of the county&#8217;s elections may come\u200b to an end. With preliminary results showing Heap leading Stringham by 3.6 points, his victory is seen as a \u2062hopeful turn for \u2062those concerned with election integrity in the region, especially after Richer was criticized \u200cfor mishandling the\u2062 2022 midterm\u200b elections and\u200d for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivy-league-hypocrisy-free-speech-activists-highlight-history-of-censorship\/\" title=\"Free speech activists expose Ivy League&#039;s hypocrisy in censorship history\">censoring dissenting voices<\/a> on election issues.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Justin_Heap_(53756635710).jpg\">Gage Skidmore\/Wikimedia Commons\/<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/07\/arizona-voters-elect-staunch-conservative-to-replace-maricopa-countys-leftist-friendly-elections-chief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Arizona%20Voters%20Elect%20Staunch%20Conservative%20To%20Replace%20Maricopa%20County%E2%80%99s%20Leftist-Friendly%20Elections%20Chief&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/07\/arizona-voters-elect-staunch-conservative-to-replace-maricopa-countys-leftist-friendly-elections-chief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=Arizona%20Voters%20Elect%20Staunch%20Conservative%20To%20Replace%20Maricopa%20County%E2%80%99s%20Leftist-Friendly%20Elections%20Chief&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/07\/arizona-voters-elect-staunch-conservative-to-replace-maricopa-countys-leftist-friendly-elections-chief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\" https:><\/path><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/07\/arizona-voters-elect-staunch-conservative-to-replace-maricopa-countys-leftist-friendly-elections-chief\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=Arizona%20Voters%20Elect%20Staunch%20Conservative%20To%20Replace%20Maricopa%20County%E2%80%99s%20Leftist-Friendly%20Elections%20Chief&amp;body=%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/07\/arizona-voters-elect-staunch-conservative-to-replace-maricopa-countys-leftist-friendly-elections-chief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Voters in Arizona&rsquo;s largest county are on track to elect a staunch conservative to replace the locality&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">leftist-friendly elections chief<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Democrat Tim Stringham <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TimStringhamAZ\/status\/1854232269105590717\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> that he had called Republican Justin Heap to effectively concede defeat in the race to become Maricopa County&rsquo;s next recorder. Heap, a member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/azjustinheap\/status\/1854239946191622533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirmed<\/a> his opponent called to concede in a tweet published the same day.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-93c7dfe9fe85d37deff61abb18cb0c9f fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-93c7dfe9fe85d37deff61abb18cb0c9f\"><\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;It is undeniably true that past elections, under both parties and spanning more than a decade, have denigrated our county&rsquo;s reputation and made us the laughing stock of the nation. That ends today,&rdquo; Heap wrote on X. <\/p>\n<p>While Arizona officials continue to count votes as of this article&rsquo;s publication, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/11\/05\/us\/elections\/results-arizona-maricopa-county-recorder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">preliminary results<\/a> show Heap currently leading Stringham by 3.6 points, according to The New York Times. <\/p>\n<p>The apparent victory is welcome news for Arizona voters concerned about the integrity of Maricopa County elections. Since 2021, the recorder position has been occupied by Stephen Richer, a self-styled &ldquo;Republican&rdquo; who is hostile to election integrity activists throughout the state.<\/p>\n<p>Heap previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/31\/primary-voters-in-arizonas-largest-county-oust-leftist-backed-elections-chief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defeated<\/a> Richer during Arizona&rsquo;s July primaries, in which the latter <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/30\/will-arizona-primary-voters-boot-gop-maricopa-elections-chief-linked-to-dem-megadonor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> received financial backing from Democrat megadonor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/person\/reid-hoffman-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reid Hoffman<\/a>. The race came months after legacy media launched a seemingly <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/22\/media-smear-gop-candidate-seeking-to-primary-leftist-friendly-arizona-election-official\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coordinated campaign<\/a> to baselessly smear Heap as an &ldquo;election denier&rdquo; and boost Richer&rsquo;s reelection prospects. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fc73bd8ec2b5f2f96e1d93adc9662888 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fc73bd8ec2b5f2f96e1d93adc9662888\"><\/div>\n<p>Despite campaigning as a supporter of election integrity efforts in his 2020 campaign, Richer did a complete 180 upon entering office. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist&rsquo;s Mollie Hemingway previously&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/20\/az-election-official-stephen-richer-ran-on-election-integrity-now-hes-accused-of-law-breaking-and-politicking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a>, the GOP recorder has defended his Democrat predecessor&rsquo;s administration of Maricopa&rsquo;s 2020 election, penned &ldquo;op-eds at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/09\/22\/opinions\/trusting-election-health-school-experts-richer\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CNN<\/a> against the type of election audits he conducted to gain power,&rdquo; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/05\/19\/opinions\/speaking-out-after-trumps-arizona-election-claims-stephen-richer\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attacked<\/a> &ldquo;Republican leaders and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/f\/?id=0000017b-6062-d290-a57b-ee62cfa80000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voters<\/a> for their election integrity concerns.&rdquo; He also allegedly lobbied against a commonsense voter ID ballot amendment and jumpstarted a political action committee to back candidates who share his antagonism toward election integrity efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Richer notably helped preside over Maricopa County&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/11\/23\/maricopa-county-made-arizonas-elections-even-more-of-a-disaster-than-people-realize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disastrous 2022 midterm elections<\/a>. When voters expressed concerns about potential disenfranchisement resulting from the county&rsquo;s misadministration, he dismissed such worries as &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/11\/29\/arizona-maricopa-county-officials-certify-election-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conspiracy theories<\/a>.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Equally alarming, however, is the GOP recorder&rsquo;s willingness to censor those he disagrees with. As my colleague Logan Washburn recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/14\/exclusive-maricopa-elections-chief-enlisted-foreign-censorship-group-in-war-on-disapproved-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, emails obtained by The Federalist show how Richer &ldquo;turned to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/states-united-democracy-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">left-leaning<\/a>&nbsp;States United Democracy Center and an overseas&nbsp;group bankrolled by the State Department to help his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-intl-censors-trained-az-officials-on-targeting-speech\/\" title=\"Exclusive: Int&#039;l Censors Trained AZ Officials On Targeting Speech\">office target election speech<\/a> that&rsquo;s disapproved of by the government.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c03757cfd97309ef245fba2836ca2ab6 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c03757cfd97309ef245fba2836ca2ab6\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8a8c7a6b941ca33ee756c585633463f6 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8a8c7a6b941ca33ee756c585633463f6\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Shawn Fleetwood<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShawnFleetwood\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\" rel=\"noopener\">@ShawnFleetwood<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/shawnfleetwood\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/2024-election\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">2024 election<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/arizona\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Arizona<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/election-integrity\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">election integrity<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/election-transparency\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">election transparency<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/elections\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Elections<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/justin-heap\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Justin Heap<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/maricopa-county\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Maricopa County<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/stephen-richer\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Stephen Richer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Voters in Arizona&#8217;s largest county are set to elect a strong conservative to succeed the current elections chief, who is aligned with leftist views. On Wednesday, Democrat Tim Stringham revealed he had called Republican Justin Heap to concede defeat in the race for Maricopa County recorder. Heap, a member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, confirmed this concession via a tweet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2365399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Justin-Heap.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[4472,4914,6571,3661,5894],"class_list":["post-2365398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-arizona","tag-conservative","tag-elections","tag-maricopa","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Justin-Heap.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2365398"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2365402,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365398\/revisions\/2365402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2365399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2365398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2365398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2365398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}