WASHINGTON – Mark Finchem, an Arizona state lawmaker who has embraced former President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, won the Republican nomination on Wednesday for secretary of state, the state’s top election post, Edison Research projected.
Trump-backed Finchem, who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol attack, has called on Arizona legislators to decertify the results of the 2020 election, when Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly won the state. The winner of November’s general election will oversee the state’s elections, including the presidential contest in 2024.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Kanishka Singh, Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)