Arizona Senate candidate poured millions into voter registration group
"Days before the first Republican candidate jumped into next year's Arizona Senate race, he poured millions into an ostensibly nonpartisan voter registration operation affiliated with prominent election fraud conspiracy theorists.
Why it matters: GOP candidate Jim Lamon embraces many of these theories, and a drive to register voters with the same inclination has the potential to benefit his candidacy. Lamon also stands to get a substantial tax break from his $2 million effort to turn out conservative voters.
What's happening: In late April, Lamon, a renewable energy executive, announced his donation to the nonprofit Look Ahead America, designed to help register "tens of thousands of new conservative voters."
- A week later, Lamon officially entered the race to challenge Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat.
- Records indicate Lamon had been laying the groundwork for his run by the time he donated to LAA: his campaign website's domain was registered in March, and its social media pages were created in April.
- LAA is officially a nonpartisan charity and can legally engage in voter registration activities as long as they're not geared toward benefitting a specific candidate or party.
- The group said it planned to use Lamon's $2 million to register and turn out "America First patriots."
- LAA executive director Matthew Braynard told Axios the group is in the process of reapplying for tax exemption. If it's granted, Lamon's donation to the group will be retroactively tax-deductible.
- "We take our nonpartisan obligation extremely seriously," Braynard said in an email. "We do not have any direct contact with Mr. Lamon or anyone working with him regarding our activities in AZ other than sending the reminders for payment to his accountant (it’s a monthly commitment)."
Between the lines: Efforts byBraynard's group to root out supposed voter fraud last year were cited in multiple failed lawsuits seeking to overturn election results in states carried by Joe Biden in his matchup with President Trump.
- The group has turned its attention this year to lobbying state and local governments to abandon contracts with voting machine companies at the center of Trump-backed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
- Lamon has pushed many of the same conspiracy theories.
- He joined Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward late last year in unsuccessfully suing to block Biden's victory in the state.
- Lamon's company donated $300,000 to the Arizona GOP in March, as the state party used a Republican-led "audit" of the state's 2020 election results to boost its fundraising substantially.
Peter Thiel makes $10M bet on associate in Arizona Senate race
"Libertarian tech titan Peter Thiel is spending $10 million to boost one of his closest allies in next year’s Arizona Senate race, a contest crucial to the fight for the majority.
NOTE: ". . .Those close to Thielsay he’s also looking at potentially supporting other 2022 contenders, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seeking reelection, and army veteran Joe Kent, who is waging a challenge to GOP Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Trump impeachment backer, in Washington state's all-party primary next year."
The billionaire is coming out in support of Blake Masters, the chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and the president of the Thiel Foundation, who is expected to soon enter the race. Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, is bankrolling Saving Arizona PAC, a newly formed, pro-Masters super PAC, according to a person familiar with the investment. . .Thiel’s support could play a major role in Arizona by helping Masters possibly scare away would-be Republican opponents.
The list of potential candidates also includes state Attorney General Mark Brnovich,
energy company executive Jim Lamon and Rep. Andy Biggs. The anti-tax Club for Growth has signaled it would likely back Biggs, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, should he enter the contest. . .
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Reported earlier
Senate hopeful Jim Lamon ripped Capitol Hill spending, but his company got COVID-19 relief
Screengrab campaign video/YouTube
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez |Arizona Republic
Republican Jim Lamon, who entered Arizona’s GOP U.S. Senate race this week, suggested Congress was spending excessively to deal with the pandemic’s economic fallout.
In an announcement video, Lamon lamented the power “to spend so much money, our grandchildren will struggle to pay off the debt” while an on-screen headline noted that Congress has already spent $4 trillion in COVID-19 relief spending.
But records show his own company, Depcom Power, received $2.6 million in relief last year from the Paycheck Protection Program, intended by Congress to provide some economic reprieve for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities. Lamon is the founder and chairman of the Scottsdale-based solar engineering and construction company.
The company was among the thousands of Arizona businesses that received federal aid.
Lamon did not respond Wednesday to The Arizona Republic’s attempts to reach him for comment
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