Even though former President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidates overwhelmingly won their races, several of the most important candidates did not, including Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, the Washington Examiner reported.
Democratic candidate and attorney Adrian Fontes managed to beat Finchem to the finish line.
The Examiner added, “The winner is second in the line of succession for governor and has the power to upend how elections are handled, which could play an important role in the 2024 presidential contest.”
In the days leading up to the election, Finchem received several nods of support from the former president and many of his allies.
Denying the results
Finchem, who served in Arizona’s House of Representatives for the past seven years, joined other candidates and scores of concerned voters in suggesting the ridiculously slow ballot counting in Arizona was nefarious and led to his loss.
He slammed current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
PSA: Katie Hobbs is overseeing her own election. Something really unethical about that.
— Mark Finchem #JustFollowTheLaw VoteFinchem.com (@RealMarkFinchem) November 12, 2022
Before the race was called Friday night, Finchem seemed particularly interested in gaining more Twitter followers.
Hi, I am the GOP nominee for Arizona Secretary of State & my race is neck & neck. My election ended days ago. They are screwing with the election counts. I’m trying to spread the word. Can you retweet & follow me so I can hit 200k followers & get my message out? Thank you! #MAGA
— Mark Finchem #JustFollowTheLaw VoteFinchem.com (@RealMarkFinchem) November 12, 2022
He posted several additional tweets questioning the legitimacy of the vote, a strategy that hasn’t worked out well for Trump-endorsed candidates, so far.
Other controversies
Finchem dodged a serious bullet when it was revealed that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Luckily for him, he never went inside, but a photo of him there certainly could have derailed his campaign early on.
Trump had previously called Finchem a “patriot who has fought for our country right from his earliest movements in government.”