Rogers Takes Lead in LD7 Senate Primary, Early Results Reveal

Incumbent Wendy Rogers is currently leading by 7.6% in the Legislative District 7 Senate Republican primary race against State Representative David Cook, according to early election results.

As of 8:32 p.m. Tuesday, Rogers had garnered 53.8% of the votes, while Cook trailed behind with 46.2%.

This primary race spotlighted the ideological differences between the two Republican candidates and raised questions about Rogers’ primary residence.

Rogers, a far-right conservative, has represented the district, which includes parts of Coconino, Navajo, Gila, and Pinal counties since 2021.

A former Air Force pilot, she ran on a ticket with LD7 House candidate Steve Slaton, who faced allegations of falsifying his military service in Vietnam.

During the 2023 legislative session, Rogers chaired the Senate Elections Committee. Under her leadership, the committee heard presentations from election deniers and approved legislation to mandate hand counting of election results and other significant voting operation changes. A ballot measure she backed aimed at speeding up election results ultimately failed due to insufficient Republican votes by the end of the 2024 session.

Rogers was censured by the state Senate in 2022 following threats she made against colleagues who criticized her for speaking at the America First Political Action Conference, organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, in February 2023.

“I’ve said we need to build more gallows. If we try some of these high-level criminals, convict them and use a newly built set of gallows, it’ll make an example of these traitors,” she told a crowd at the conference.

She has faced accusations of not primarily residing within the LD7 boundaries since assuming office. In 2023, she filed a restraining order against Arizona Capitol Times reporter Camryn Sanchez, who investigated her residency by ringing her doorbell at her Chandler and Tempe residences. The order was later dismissed.

Rogers’ second-quarter campaign finance reports further fueled residency questions when she used a Tempe address to reimburse herself. She did not respond to multiple inquiries regarding her residency from the Arizona Capitol Times by our deadline.

This election cycle, Rogers spent $658,360 on consulting services from Go Right Strategies, a company led by her nephew, Spence Rogers.

Cook is a comparatively moderate Republican. A rancher who has served the district since 2016, he emphasized Rogers’ residency issues in his campaign. He chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the latest session and has not denied the results of the 2020 or 2022 elections, unlike Rogers.

Although Cook did not ultimately vote for a bill to repeal the near-total abortion ban in Arizona, he did express that the territorial-era law was outdated, drawing scrutiny from Republican colleagues.

The winner of this primary will face either Democrat Haley Creighton or Roberto Reveles in the general election, depending on which candidate wins the Democratic LD7 primary.

According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, the district leans 21.4% in favor of Republican candidates.