Tucson Lawmaker in Tough Re-Elect Makes Threats, Prepares to Deny Results
There are six more days until voting even ends, but Rachel Jones is fanning the flames of conspiracy
TUCSON, Ariz. – In a multi-day social media spree, incumbent state lawmaker for Legislative District 17 Rachel Jones is spreading unproven claims of fraud in the ongoing 2024 election and threatening reprisal. In the span of nine days, Jones has:
Wrote that “it's about time that the people fight back” because “Americans aren’t going to stand for 2020 2.0.” [10/25]
Alleged that the Postal Service is shredding ballots and also engaged in “obviously a very well-run plan” to coordinate illegal voting. [10/20, 10/28]
Threatened that “when,” not if, former President Trump wins the election, “you cheating traitors are finally going down.” [10/27]
Amplified Trump’s statement calling for legal prosecution of political enemies who “cheated” the 2020 election. [10/27]
Rachel Jones has a history of undermining democracy and the will of the people:
Jones has introduced legislation to ban early voting, ban vote-by-mail, eliminate voting centers, and hand all 11 of Arizona’s electoral votes to the Republican candidate regardless of voters’ choice.
To this day, she refuses to acknowledge that the Governor of Arizona is the Governor of Arizona and that Kari Lake lost in 2022.
She married a debunked election denier that she met at a state capitol hearing on election “integrity”.
She is one of the 43 state legislative candidates this year, all Republicans, who hold “anti-democracy” beliefs and part of the 93% of GOP state candidates across battleground states who have not indicated how they will handle an attempt to overturn the results of this election, according to recent analysis reported by Politico.
The race for LD17 state House is among the most highly competitive in the state. Last election, the district’s House race was decided by less than one percent of votes cast. This year, the race will be even more competitive, with Jones and running mate Cory McGarr facing a formidable challenge from Tucson-native Kevin Volk.