We're seeing a recurring pattern with state Republican parties that get themselves in trouble: (a) spending lavishly to defend Trump with his election fraud malarkey, and (b) GOP leadership that promoted this foolishness. In Arizona's case, fingers are still being pointed at former state Chair Kelli Ward, even though she left the position on January 28 when her term ended. Reckless financial mismanagement aside, under her leadership, the Arizona Republican Party lost their US Senate seat, the governor's seat, the office of the Secretary of State, and the office of the Arizona Attorney General. As other states are also finding out, going full bore MAGA can have disastrous consequences.

Source: The Messenger

The Arizona Republican Party picked a bad time to run out of money.

There are two competitive House seats on the line as Republicans are looking to defend their slim majority in the lower chamber next year. Not to mention, Arizona is going to be a major swing state in the 2024 presidential election.

But the state GOP has just over $23,000 in cash on hand in its federal account, according to federal filings, and roughly $144,000 according to their Q2 state filing. That pales in comparison to state parties in places like Wisconsin and Ohio, where both had more than $1 million in cash on hand at the end of the most recent quarter.

“When you look at the money, certainly the Republicans are struggling,” said Arizona pollster Paul Bentz.

And so why did this happen?

At the end of the second quarter in 2021, the party had nearly $1.4 million and just over $1.8 million at the end of the second quarter last year, according to state and federal filings. But the group went on to spend a significant amount of money defending former President Trump and his claims of election fraud after the 2020 election - actions that turned off some major donors, as Reuters has previously reported.