Taylor Robson knew she would have to win over supporters of former President Donald Trump, but didn’t think that would be a problem.: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
By Richard Ruelas and Lane Sainty || The Arizona Republic
She had been known throughout Republican circles in Arizona as a reliable donor and someone who was always willing to serve on a board or commission. But Karrin Taylor Robson knew that to be governor she would have to introduce herself to the people of Arizona.
She would travel the state visiting spots that, even as an Arizona native, she had never seen. She came away entranced by the state’s beauty and enchanted by its population.
But she would also encounter a divide among Republicans that she couldn’t heal. It was over the result of the 2020 election.
“The most anger I encountered was with regard to the 2020 election,” she said in an interview Thursday at her chic Biltmore office, which boasts a view of Camelback Mountain.
“Where there are people that just believe it was stolen, that’s where you got the real kind of visceral…” Taylor Robson trailed off.
“And if you didn’t, you know, buy into that narrative, they were angry.”
Taylor Robson knew she would have to win over supporters of former President Donald Trump, but didn’t think that would be a problem. She was also a Trump supporter, who had hosted his family at her house and had donated more than $1 million to his campaign.
But months after her stinging loss in the primary — and days after what was to her the bittersweet vindication of her party’s preferred candidate going down in flames — Taylor Robson knows better.
