PHOENIX — The Arizona Senate Committee on Clean Elections alleged Thursday that the Clean Elections Commission unlawfully barred the Green Party’s Senate candidate from participating in the upcoming general election debates.
Eduardo Quintana, a 2024 Arizona Senate candidate and Pima County Green Party chairman, won his party’s primary as a write-in candidate but is absent from the Oct. 9 debate, which will be broadcast on multiple platforms by the Arizona Media Association. Republican Kari Lake and Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego are participating in the scheduled debate.
The allegation was made by letter from committee chairman Jake Hoffman in response to Clean Elections’ recent rule change requiring a candidate to receive at least 1% of all votes in their primary. According to the Arizona Media Association, that minimum 1% threshold was 12,400 votes for Quintana, who received just 282 votes.
The state committee said its investigation found that the rule passed was not submitted to the governor’s Regulatory Review Council for approval. In fact, this alleged procedural error violated Proposition 306, a law passed by voters in 2018 that allows and invites all candidates to participate in debates.
“At best, the Clean Elections Commission appears to be using creative but deliberate means to exclude some candidates from participating in the debate, not to mention undermining the will of voters to demand appropriate transparency in agency actions through the Administrative Procedure Act,” Hoffman said in a press release. “At worst, the taxpayer-funded commission knowingly violated the law.”
🚨 The AZ Election Commission uncovered alleged manipulation of the US Senate debates to help Democrat Ruben Gallego against the Republican @KariLake
Today, as Chairman of the AZ Senate Committee on Government, I launched an investigation to counter the allegations that the @AZCCEC illegally engaged… pic.twitter.com/Gnv72PZrmh
— Jake Hoffman (@JakeHoffmanAZ) 5 September 2024
Hoffman said in a supplemental X post that he believed Clean Elections was “rigging” the U.S. Senate debate to help Gallego and that voters deserved an explanation for this change.
Lake said all candidates, regardless of their popularity in the polls, should be allowed to appear in the general election debate. The former Fox 10 Phoenix host appeared on The Mike Broomhead Show on KTAR News 92.3 FM on August 28 and said everyone on the ballot should “be present and be able to make their point.”
Chris Kline, president and CEO of the Arizona Media Association, responded to the backlash, reiterating his support for the new debate requirement in an Aug. 30 press release. He said the media group is proud to support Lake and Gallego’s upcoming October face-off.
The Senate committee’s investigation is still ongoing.
