Arizona House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers, a Republican and a key House Jan. 6 committee witness, was censured by the Arizona GOP Executive Committee Tuesday.
Bashing the top Republican in the state house for siding with Democrats on a myriad of hot-button issues, the state’s GOP Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward declared he was “no longer a Republican in good standing” and urged Republicans to “expel him from office” in the Aug. 2 primary.
PRO-TRUMP ARIZONA REPUBLICANS TARGET RUSTY BOWERS AFTER JAN. 6 TESTIMONY
“Bowers has lost the confidence of a majority of Republican Party leaders and his colleagues in the legislature in the state of Arizona,” the resolution declared. “The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Arizona hereby formally censures Representative Rusty Bowers and shall immediately cease any and all recognition and support of him as a member of the Republican Party.”
The @AZGOP Executive Committee formally censured Rusty Bowers tonight— he is no longer a Republican in good standing & we call on Republicans to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary. Full press release from AZGOP coming soon.
— Dr. Kelli Ward ?? (@kelliwardaz) July 20, 2022
Bowers delivered scathing public testimony before the Jan. 6 committee last month, recounting how former President Donald Trump pressed him to partake in a “circus” gambit to overturn the 2020 election over bogus fraud claims.
Although the censure resolution refrained from heavily disparaging his appearance before the committee, his testimony drew ire from many Arizona Republicans and prompted Trump to endorse his challenger, state Sen. David Farnsworth. Ward also endorsed Farnsworth over him.
Rather than harp on his testimony in the censure resolution, the Arizona GOP lambasted him for opposing a bill declaring that there can only be two genders on government documents, supporting in-state tuition prices for migrants, supporting a bill that rendered sexual orientation and gender identity a protected class, and backing an education spending bill. The party also chided him for not backing election reform measures.
“Bowers ensured killing all meaningful election integrity bills (HB 2596, HB 2289) and prevented Republicans from committee debate, floor debate, and working on a product of those bills that would have addressed many of the genuine and unresolved concerns following the Senate audit,” the resolution added.
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The Arizona GOP also encouraged the “Republican Party in Maricopa County and the newly formed Legislative District 10 to contemplate a similar censure” against him.
Despite his criticism of Trump’s actions following the election, Bowers has maintained he would likely support Trump if he clinched the Republican nod for president in 2024. He is hoping to hop from the state House to the state Senate and conceded it will take a “miracle” for him to win that race.
