So far three people have entered the race for Arizona Republican Party Chairman: Jim O’Connor, Frank Thorwald, and Jonathan Lines.
O’Connor comes from a successful grassroots program that grew his district exponentially during his time as Legislative District Chairman. He worked closely with the Donald Trump team to ensure Arizona had as many Republicans as possible working to win Arizona. He now wants to take the reins of the state party that has seemingly left the precinct and state committeemen out in the cold, without a voice, and without a plan.
Very little is known about Frank Thorwald other than the rumors circulating that he is running interference for outgoing Chairman Robert Graham. Few people believe that his candidacy is truly sincere. Grassroots operatives describe him as a “good man.” He has tried, but failed in his attempts implement several projects involving Latinos and GOTV efforts. Unfortunately he gets little to no turnout or response to his well-intentioned ventures.
One community leader stated recently that Thorwald “continues to relive the good ole days. He talks about the time he spent in the Reagan administration, and the wonderful things he did 30 years ago, but has little to show for what he has done now.”
Jonathan Lines announced his candidacy approximately 2 weeks ago. He boasted about his endorsements from two congressmen and one Republican Party activist. He seems poised to come in guns a blazing, and ready to take over. That is to be expected from the guy, who is Graham’s hand-picked replacement.
Sources say that Graham, unhappy with O’Connor, who is rightfully popular with state and precinct committeemen, reached out and offered the role of chairman to Lines. Lines is known to play ball with the establishment. Lines is someone that does not scare many people in power. He is willing to go-along-to-get-along and play along with whoever approaches him. On top of that, one political insider stated that Governor Ducey has also “lined up” behind Lines because Ducey and Flake need free reign of the Party.
Lines “cabinet” appears to be made up of the people responsible for the “Conservatives Purge” in which John McCain and his Independent Expenditure Committee actively went out and recruited precinct committeemen mostly from the Asian community in order to stop his censure for the second straight year.
Because Lines will be operating in Yuma, Chad Heywood, a field operative who has ties to Flake and McCain, will have tremendous power in a Lines administration.
The most important for Lines is the man he is expected to make Matthew Kenney Executive Director should he win. Kenney is not really widely known in Republican Party circles unless you are part of the McCain and Flake machine. This past go around, he worked actively on the McCain PAC. He was instrumental in formulating and helping to fund what we now see as the purge of the conservatives. Additionally, Matt Kenney is also known specifically to Kelly Ward as the man that called her on the primary night to gloat. He then had the nerve to ask Ward if she would openly support and endorse McCain.
Kenney whipped up votes against Trump during the State Convention and has been a strident never-Trumper. It is hard to imagine that he could have a unifying influence. The question becomes, can the Republican Party continue to support such divisive characters?
It is well-known that Graham worked against precinct committeemen. It is well-known that he worked mostly for the establishment. What isn’t known is how much like Graham Lines will be. The good money is on the best that Lines will be Graham’s Minnie Me.