Battle Heats Up: GOP’s Bolick Faces Fierce Challenge from Barnett in North Phoenix

Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick has managed to maintain a lead over far-right contender Josh Barnett in the latest Arizona Senate race.

Bolick, with a nearly 10-point lead according to preliminary results, appears poised to defeat Barnett, a local businessman known for his conspiracy theories and election denialism. This outcome marks Barnett’s third unsuccessful bid for elected office since 2020.

Bolick was appointed to the Arizona Senate in July 2023 after Sen. Steve Kaiser resigned abruptly. Kaiser’s resignation followed the high-profile failure of an affordable housing reform package he had championed. Bolick had previously served as a state representative for the same district in northern Phoenix from 2019 to 2023. She also ran for Arizona Secretary of State in 2022, finishing third in the GOP primary.

Barnett, a fervent follower of QAnon, was one of two other Republicans nominated as a potential replacement for Kaiser. His previous runs for Congress in 2020 and 2022 also ended in defeat.

Bolick is not without controversy herself. In 2021, she authored legislation that would have allowed lawmakers to override the presidential choice of Arizona voters with a simple majority, a move criticized by many as undermining democratic principles.

Despite her staunch pro-life stance, Bolick made headlines this year by being one of just two GOP state senators to vote with Democrats to repeal a near-total abortion ban from 1864. In a nearly 30-minute floor speech, Bolick shared her personal experience with a dilation and curettage procedure needed for an unviable pregnancy. She expressed concerns that the archaic law could jeopardize care for women facing difficult pregnancy complications.

However, Bolick clarified that her opposition to the 1864 law does not signify support for abortions or the abortion rights initiative aimed for the November ballot. She later voted to send a summary of the Arizona Abortion Access Act to voters, including the phrase “unborn human being” in the first sentence. The campaign behind the initiative has filed a lawsuit against that language, and Bolick, along with the rest of the GOP-majority legislative panel, vowed to appeal a recent ruling that found the language unlawful.

Bolick’s husband, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, was among the justices who reinstated the 1864 near-total abortion ban. This ruling quickly led to a campaign to unseat two of those justices facing retention in November, including Clint Bolick. In response, GOP lawmakers approved a ballot measure granting Arizona judges lifetime appointments, a move Bolick supported and which drew criticism.