Following the actions of LD8 Democrats who acted to fill a vacancy on their State Senate ballot, more than 100 LD29 Republicans met last night and selected James Taylor for the second spot on the GOP primary ballot alongside current State Representative Steve Montenegro. The spot is open due to State Representative Austin Smith withdrawing his name from the July 30th primary ballot.
The hastily called meeting needed to complete its business before Maricopa County sent its ballots to the printers.
“LD29 Republicans picked James Taylor for the second House seat because of his conservative track record and the support he has received from leading conservatives.” said one of the GOP precinct committeemen who participated in the Zoom meeting.
“The grassroots loves James Taylor because he’s one of us, that’s why the LD29 Republicans selected him to be our nominee.” said State Senator Janae Shamp, who had endorsed Taylor previously for the seat.
The meeting was run by acting LD29 Chairman Stephen Skvara and AZGOP Chairwoman Gina Svoboda was also in attendance to answer questions.
“Doing this online was needed because of the short notice and everyone understood it was an emergency, but it made for a very slow meeting as attendees were credentialed one at a time.” observed another committeeman. “I hope we never have to do one of those again.”
Taylor thanked the group for their support, saying “I’m humbled by the endorsement of the LD29 Republicans and look forward to taking the fight to the Democrats in the general election!”
Taylor had already been endorsed by State Senator Janae Shamp, State Representative Steve Montenegro, US Senate candidate Kari Lake, Congressman Paul Gosar, and others.
The other candidate running was Amy Huested, who until recently had served as Secretary for the group. Huested and her supporters challenged the attempt to pick the nominee in this manner and suggested the effort would be a waste of time and set aside by legal challenges. Huested’s remarks targeted what she called “the GOP establishment” as she accused it of trying to pick the nominee, but the lopsided 76-23 vote in favor of Taylor suggested the conservative district disagreed with her.