Secretary of State candidates Mark Finchem, on the left, and Adrian Fontes, on the right, during a debate Thursday night, televised on Arizona PBS. || Screenshot via Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission/Arizona PBS
The winner of the secretary of state race will oversee Arizona elections
By Caitlin Sievers || Arizona Mirror
Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for secretary of state who has built his campaign on baseless claims the 2020 election was marred by fraud, continually dodged questions and spouted conspiracy theories in a televised debate Thursday night.
His Democratic opponent, Adrian Fontes, said voters will have to make the choice between “laws and lies.”
Fontes, a former Maricopa County recorder who lost his re-election bid in 2020, framed November’s election as a referendum on democracy.
“Democracy is a decision, and as you’ve seen tonight, that decision could be no more clear,” Fontes said. “You can decide between community building and stability or conspiracy theories and cantankerousness.”
Finchem, a state legislator from Oro Valley, is one of the nation’s most vocal proponents of the “Big Lie” that former President Donald Trump really won the 2020 election. His devotion to false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election has earned him a national profile, along with Trump’s endorsement.
Finchem refused to say during Thursday’s debate whether he would have certified Arizona’s general election results if he were secretary of state in 2020. In a story published this week in Time magazine, Finchem said it is “a fantasy” to believe that the 2020 election was fair.
