Sen. Paul Boyer is calling it quits. It’s a disturbing reminder of how ugly Arizona politics have become and a glimpse that the worst is perhaps yet to come.
Boyer’s decision against seeking re-election next year wasn’t entirely a surprise to anyone paying attention. But it still elicited lamentations amid the state’s political turmoil.
Boyer was the only Republican in the state Senate who stood up to the shenanigans of his colleagues, who wanted to jail Maricopa County board of supervisors over the recount of the 2020 presidential ballots.
Boyer told journalists that his heart isn’t in it any longer and that the Legislature “feels more toxic than it had ever been.”
That’s an understatement in a world where even the presumption of being a good or sensible conservative isn’t good enough for the MAGA crowd now controlling the Arizona Republican Party.
The leaders unleashing the MAGA mob against Boyer included none other than Senate President Karen Fann, the Prescott Republican who also led the bogus election audit.
Fann, too, is calling quits after her term ends next year but not without first sticking to Boyer.
She had already thrown her support behind former state Rep. Anthony Kern to represent the northwest Valley District 20 that includes parts of Glendale.
Just this month Fann had hosted a fundraiser for Kern, who by media accounts joined the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to overturn the election results and keep...
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