Copper State Chaos: “A Warm Up,” Talking Down to Arizonans, and Political Theater

Welcome to Copper State Chaos, Copper State War Room’s weekly recap on the fails, feuds, and full-blown chaos in the Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary.

With Andy Biggs and David Schweikert locked in a bitter race to the bottom, this primary is spiraling into an ugly, expensive mess. We’ll keep the receipts – so you don’t have to.

Don’t miss this week’s chaos:

“A WARM UP FOR WHAT’S GOING TO COME:” Three weeks after David Schweikert called out Andy Biggs for “associating with white supremacists and engaging in anti-Semitism,” Biggs still refuses to offer an explanation or disavow the extremist groups he campaigned with. The Biggs campaign “did not answer a question about why Biggs attended that event,” and has called the attacks a distraction. Biggs has invoked Confederate General Robert E. Lee as a personal example of how to handle criticism, but when asked to expand on his admiration of Lee, Biggs declined to comment on camera. This back-and-forth primary has sparked multiple rounds of infighting, but as Schweikert’s campaign has made clear: "That piece was a warm up, or an appetizer, for what's going to come.” Not to be totally outdone, there was a follow up report detailing that Schweikert’s campaign, despite his attacks on Biggs, also reached out to one of the same extremist groups. 

TALKING DOWN TO ARIZONANS: When Arizonans were “terrified” of Andy Biggs and David Schweikert’s drastic cuts to healthcare, Schweikert mocked them for "whining and bedwetting.” Now, in a newly uncovered clip from a radio show, Schweikert doubled down on calling Arizonans “bedwetters” for being concerned about the healthcare cuts he “co-wrote,” saying: “I referred to some folks as, I think I used the word ‘bedwetters’ because they weren’t willing to step up and understand the actual math.” As if talking down to Arizonans wasn’t enough, Schweikert then gave some unsolicited advice to Arizonans who are losing healthcare because of his votes, telling them to “just toughen up.”

SCHWEIKERT’S POLITICAL THEATER: On a radio show, David Schweikert, in a moment of “absolute honesty,” reminded his co-host and all Arizonans about “the theater [he] does to fool voters” on a daily basis. Schweikert described Andy Biggs’ budget amendment as “an absolute fraud.” This is another tally on the long, back-and-forth infighting that has plagued this Arizona GOP primary.

That’s all for Copper State Chaos this week. Thanks for reading – we’ll be back next week to keep tabs on the chaos. Have a great weekend!

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